Demonic Brothers
by darkestdepths90
Summary: Naruto meets Gaara at a young age and vow to help those like them. Gaara? Narutofem.haku Don't own Naruto
1. Chapter 1

The Sandaime Hokage was leaving for Suna, but couldn't decide what to do about the boy Naruto Uzumaki. He was hated by the villagers for being the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the Nine-tailed Demon Fox that had nearly destroyed the village six years earlier. They refused to see that he was not the demon and had tried to kill him on several occasions.

He thought long and hard about this before coming to a conclusion. He couldn't leave him here for fear of what they might do in his absence. He walked towards the young boy's apartment, it pained him that Naruto was forced to live alone in such harsh conditions, but his parents were never known and because of who he was, no one would adopt him and the orphanage wouldn't allow him there.

He knocked on the door, which swung open at his touch. He hurried into the apartment and started looking for the boy. In the bedroom he found the window open and a flash of orange and yellow moving through the alleyway below. He shook his head as he left for the Hokage Monument, Naruto had always gone there when he thought he was being threatened.

'If he is continued to be treated this way, he might very well come in contact with Kyuubi. If that were to happen we could have another massacre on our hands, but it wouldn't be confined to a single clan.' Walking was too slow for the old man and used Shunshin to arrive faster.

He found that Naruto had somehow managed to get down to the craved heads. The Sandaime smiled and went down to speak with him. "I'm impressed you got here. You should looked to see who's at your door before you run off."

"Sorry old man, but I couldn't be sure it was you. I learned about henge in the academy not to long ago. If it was you, I knew that you'd come here to find me."

"Why do you come here Naruto?"

"I going to become Hokage and surpass you all, then people will treat me right."

"Naruto, I'm leaving the village tomorrow, and I was wondering if you would like to come with me to Suna."

"Where's that?"

"It's another village like this one in the Wind Country."

"I'd love to." 'If only to get away from the glares.' "But I'll miss class and Iruka-sensei won't be happy."

"I'll speak with him if you want to come."

"Thanks old man. I think I'll go get something to eat, you want to join me?"

"Sorry, but I still have a few things to take care of before we leave."

"Alright, I'll see ya tomorrow." Sandaime was shocked to see Naruto, who wasn't even a genin, walk straight up the side of the monument.

'He has more potential than I had ever imagined.' He then realized on which craving he stood. 'Arashi, I know you would weep to see what our village has done to him. You gave your life to stop the beast and they terrorize the boy you chose as their savior.' He sighed and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

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Naruto was at the Hokage tower early the next morning. He had nothing with him because he had nothing to take. "Good morning Naruto. Eager to go I see."

"Morning old man, and it's just that this will be my first time outside the village. What's it like in Suna?"

"It's in the desert, so it's kind of like a giant sand box on a very hot day."

"Will the people there treat me the same as they do here?"

"Naruto, there will always be those who wish to hurt others, but the people there are normally very nice." A smile was plastered on Naruto's face. "So, shall we be going?" Naruto happily nodded and followed Sandaime to where his escort waited. Naruto was scared of them and made the old man laugh when he commented on their masks.

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The trip took close to a week, during which time Sandaime and the Anbu members answered quite a few of Naruto's questions, usually concerning being a ninja. When they had reached the gates of Suna, they were greeted by a dozen men and women all wearing headbands like those Naruto had seen Iruka and plenty of other people wearing but had a different symbol on them.

"Lord Hokage, it's an honor to welcome you to Sunagakure." The man bowed deeply.

"Thank you, would you be so kind as to lead us to Kazekage?"

"Of course, right this way." The gates opened and they proceeded through and followed the group to a rather large building. All but the man who had greeted them left once they were inside. "The Kazekage is expecting you, but it's no place for a child, I could have someone escort him to the hotel where you will be staying if you like."

"No, that's quite all right. What is the name of the hotel?"

"The Sand Man."

"Naruto, why don't you go have a look around the village, and met me at the hotel before dark. Don't go getting into trouble."

"Okay, I'll see ya then old man." Naruto waved as he left.

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He had walked around the village for at least three hours. After getting something to eat, he started to wonder where all the children were, because he hadn't seen one since he got here. That's when he heard the angry voices. His body immediately tensed, until he realized that they weren't directed toward him. He had heard the same names he was called and decided to see what was happening.

He ran towards the voice, all the while fighting his instincts to run away. He found the source not far away, there were three men throwing rocks into an alleyway. "Why don't you just die demon?!"

Naruto blood boiled, they were treating someone just like he had been in Konoha and he wasn't just going to stand there. "What the hell are you doing?!"

The men stopped and turned as Naruto rushed forward. He ram one and plowed him into the others. "What the hell is the matter with you brat?!"

"What right do you have to treat someone like that?!" Naruto walked down the alleyway to find a red haired boy. 'He can't be much older than me.' "Are you all right?" The boy didn't answer, the shock was evident on his face.

"Why are you protecting a demon?!"

Naruto turned to face them. "What has he ever done to you asshole?!"

"He shouldn't even exist! He'll kill us all if he's left alive!"

Naruto clenched his fists at his sides facing down, blood dripped though his fingers, pooling by his feet. His hair started to rustle even through there was no breeze. "That's the stupidest reason I have ever heard to hurt someone. But the pitiful thing is that I've heard it before, only it was said about me." His face rose and met their eye. They took a step back and gasped. Naruto's blue eyes now had cat-like pupils. The three whisker marks on his check grew wide and became bolder. **"If we're demons, that makes people like you even worse! You disgust me!"**

"There's another one?! Then we'll just kill you both." They threw shrunken instead of rocks and Naruto braced himself against the pain, but it never came. A wall of sand had come up in front of him. He turned to see that the other boy was now standing and had the flames of anger burning in his eyes.

"You won't harm him as long as I live!" The wall fell and the shuriken hit the ground. The men cowered in fear as the two boys started walking towards them. The men screamed and ran away from them. They stopped at the end of the alley. "Thank you. No one has ever stood up for me before."

"I know what it's like to be treated that way, I couldn't stand by and watch them do it to you. I'm glad to see you're not hurt, and thank you for protecting me as well."

"My name is Gaara."

"I'm Naruto, I'm here with the Hokage from Konoha."

"I heard my father was meeting with him."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Your father's the Kazekage and they still treat you like that?" Gaara nodded. "Why the hell doesn't he do something about it?"

"He says that the council won't allow him to convict them."

"It's the same with those bastards from Konoha. What was that wall of sand you did, some kind of jutsu?"

"I'm able to control sand, and it protects me from harm. I willed it to protect you as well."

"Thank you. Not many people would do that for me."

"You said you're treated the same way, does that mean you're a vessel as well?"

"Unfortunately yes, I carry the demon that nearly destroyed our village. I found out while I was in the hospital one time, but never told anyone that I knew. Apparently I was never to know. He contacted me when I was unconscious."

"That would make you carrier of the Nine-tailed Fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune, correct?" Naruto nodded. "I was told that I carried the One-tailed Tanuki, Shukaku."

"It's not all bad, he heals me and lends me his strength when I need it." He held out his palms face up to show Gaara, they were healing before his eyes. Naruto had noticed something in Gaara's eyes that wasn't an emotion, but a sign of something. "You don't sleep often do you?"

"I can't, Shukaku becomes active and devours bits of my soul when I sleep."

"I'm sorry, I wish I could do something."

"It's alright."

"Hey Gaara, keep a watch for those guys, they may come back. I'm gonna see if Kyuubi knows something that can help you."

"Alright, I won't let them harm you. Thank you for this." Gaara smiled.

Naruto's smile was genuine, unlike the ones he wore normally. "Don't thank me yet, I'm don't know if I can help you or not."

He sat down and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was in the sewer that was his mind. 'I gotta remember to redecorate in here.' He made his way to the cage Kyuubi was locked in. "Hey Kyuubi."

"**HELLO KIT, WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE?"**

"Like you don't know." Kyuubi chuckled. "Do you know of anyway to help Gaara?"

"THERE IS ONE WAY. I COULD TALK TO SHUKAKU, BUT WITH THE SAND PROTECTING HIM, IT COULD BE DIFFICULT."

"Please tell me! I want to help him."

"YOU MUST PLACE SOME OF YOUR BLOOD ON HIS SEAL AND HIS ON YOURS. THIS WOULD ALLOW SHUKAKU AND I TO SPEAK TO EACH OTHER. BUT IT ALSO LINKS THE TWO OF YOU AND YOU'D BE ABLE TO SPEAK WITH HIM THROUGH A MENTAL LINK LIKE THE ONE YOU SHARE WITH ME."

"Thank you Kyuubi, I shall tell him all the details and see if he'll agree."

"CONTACT ME IF HE DOES."

Naruto nods and leaves. He opens his eyes to find that Gaara is looking down one way while a floating eye looks the other. "Now there's an interesting sight."

"Naruto nothing happened so far. Were you successful?"

"That depends on you, there is a way, but it would involve blood from both of us. We mark the other's seal with it and then our demons would be able to talk. Kyuubi believes that he can convince Shukaku to let you sleep. But there's a side affect, in doing so you and I would be connected. We would be able to communicate through a mental link, and as far as I know even when I was back in Konoha the distance wouldn't matter."

"So we would know each others every thought?"

"I don't think so, Kyuubi and I have a link as well, but he can keep things from me. Since he imprisoned in me, I can't keep anything from him. It's probably the same with you and Shukaku."

"I would like to give it a try. If it doesn't work, at least I'll be able to talk with you."

"It would be nice to have someone my age to talk to. The only problem is your sand."

"I'll try to keep it at bay, but for how long I don't know."

"It only has to be for a second, but because it protects you, you probably never felt physical pain. I don't know how to describe it, but it's not pleasant."

"It can't be helped." Naruto pulled his only kunai and walked over to Gaara. He placed the tip above just above a fingertip and the sand swarmed there. Gaara was too busy concentrating on moving the sand and struggling to keep it away that he didn't feel the kunai cut him.

Naruto lifted his shirt and concentrated his chakra to make the seal appear. "Just swipe your cut finger over the seal." Gaara did so and then revealed his own seal. Naruto did the same thing Gaara just had. 'Kyuubi, it's done. Gaara, can you hear me?'

'Yes I can. How about you?'

'Loud and clear.' Both boys smiled and started walking while they waited for Kyuubi to finish with Shukaku. "Gaara, what's it like having a family?"

"I don't really know. My father has me live with Yashamaru, my mother's brother. My two older siblings live with our father and we rarely see each other."

"I'm sorry."

"You didn't know, but could you tell me why you asked, don't you have a family?"

"No, I'm a orphan. It's probably why they chose me. I doubt anyone else would give up their child, even if it were to prevent the destruction of the village. Before you say it too, it okay that you asked. We don't know much about each other, but you're the first person that I can talk openly with."

"I feel the same, we've experienced the same loneliness and pain. I'm content knowing that I have one person I can call my friend."

"So am I. Gaara, does everyone know about Shukaku, even the children?" He slowly nodded. "Then your pain is probably worse than mine, only those who can remember the attack know and are forbidden to tell the younger generations."

"I wish my father had done that as well, they all scared of me. I've done nothing to deserve it, and the glares hurt though they leave no wound."

"Yes they do, the pain is too much to handle, but I won't let them see my pain. I have crafted a mask of sorts that makes me out to be a happy idiot. I only let it down when I'm by myself, but I haven't worn it since I left. The old man has always seen through it so there's no point of using it around him."

"A mask to hide pain, I can see some reasons, but why do you wear it?"

"If they were to see the pain they inflict, they would grow bolder and get me to the point where I would have to reveal that I know of Kyuubi. The only way I will is if they push me to use his power, which will get them the proof they need to say that they were right."

"My power has been shown, I have little control over it."

'THAT WILL CHANGE.'

'Kyuubi, how did it go with Shukaku?'

'IT WASN'T HIS INTENTION TO MAKE GAARA GO WITHOUT SLEEP. HE WAS TRYING TO REACH OUT TO HIM. I COMPLETED THE BONDING WITHOUT THE NASTY SIDE EFFECTS.'

'So Gaara can talk to him like I can you?'

'YES, AND HE'LL BE ABLE TO SLEEP WITHOUT WORRY.'

'Thank you for your help Kyuubi.'

'IT WAS NOTHING KIT.'

"Gaara, Kyuubi says that Shukaku can talk with you now and that you can sleep again without worry."

"Shukaku just said the same and apologized for the trouble he caused."

"You know for demons, they not as bad as they're made out to be. Kyuubi's suppose to be evil incarnate, but here he is helping you. Either people are just stupid and can't tell the difference between malevolent and benevolent, or being locked up has made him soft."

Gaara smiled and shrugged. "I don't know which it is, but it doesn't matter to me. Naruto, would you like have dinner with Yashamaru and I?"

"Sure if you're sure he won't mind, I don't have to be to the hotel till around dark."

"I'm sure he won't mind, I'll also need help telling him about being able to sleep. He would become worried if I just slept."

"No problem, I'll tell him about Kyuubi if I have to. He sounds like a really nice person."

"I thought he was the only one that cared about me, but that was before I met you. Like you said, it's nice to be able to talk with someone my age."

"That's how I felt about the old man, but I found the best Ramen shop on the planet and now I've met you. When I first found out about Kyuubi, I thought that there was no one who could possibly understand my life. Knowing that there are other people, who have to face the same, if not worse, situations is both comforting and sickening. I'm comforted by the fact that there are others like me, but sickened that we're treated like shit for something we had no choose in."

"I hope there aren't others like us, but if there are we should do what we can to help them as well."

"I want to help them too, but what we would accomplish right now? We're still just kids and neither of us have training. We protect ourselves by instinct, but that won't always work."

"That's true, we need other ways of defending ourselves, each other, and them. Until then we'll learn and try to find their whereabouts."

"Agreed. When I get back to Konoha, I won't slack off anymore, so the next time we meet I'll be able to go. And I'll take us both out to Ichiraku's Ramen Bar."

"We will meet again, our villages are allies and hold the chunin exam together along with a couple other villages. We may get lucky and find another there."

"You never know, but luck is rarely on my side."


	2. Chapter 2

Gaara led Naruto through the streets of Suna, to the small house that he and Yashamaru shared. Gaara opened the door and let Naruto enter the house first. "Yashamaru, are you home?"

"Welcome home Gaara." A smiling man with sand colored hair walked into the room. "Who this?"

"I'm Naruto, I came with the Hokage from Konoha." Naruto bowed and smiled back at the man."

"It's nice to met you Naruto."

"Would it be alright if Naruto stayed for dinner?"

"I don't have a problem with it, but shouldn't the Hokage know where you are?"

"He said I could do what I wanted as long as I was to the hotel by dark."

He nodded. "Dinner should be done pretty soon." He walked back through the door he came out of, which Naruto assumed was the kitchen.

'Should we tell him about the link?'

'I don't know. He does need to know that you can sleep, but I say we tell him only if we have to.' Gaara nodded. They sat down and while they waited, Gaara move the sand through the window and formed it into figures. "That's awesome Gaara. I wish I could do something like that, but Kyuubi's fire based."

"I'll make a special one for you. It'll be done before you leave tomorrow, I'll give it to you then."

"Thanks Gaara. I'd like to give you something to give you as well to remember me by."

"It would be pretty hard to forget you. We can talk every day if we want, and what you've done for me is more than enough."

"Still, I really would like to give you something as well."

'THERE IS SOMETHING YOU COULD DO KIT. ASK HIM TO MAKE A SCULPTURE HE WOULD LIKE TO KEEP IN YOUR HANDS.'

'What do you mean keep?'

'IF IT WERE EXPOSED TO THE ELEMENTS, IT WOULD BREAK.'

'Alright thanks Kyuubi.' "Hey Gaara, could you make one that you would want to keep for a long time in my hands?"

Gaara nodded and crafted a standing figure of Naruto. Naruto smiled at this and did what Kyuubi was telling him. He felt the heat emanating from his palm and it increased in temperature. Slowly, the sand turned to glass and retained it shape. In his hand was a glass version of himself, whisker marks and other features etched in.

Naruto smiled as he handed it gently to Gaara. "If we fail as ninja, we could always start a glass sculpting business." This caused Gaara to smile.

Yashamaru came back out. "Dinners ready." Gaara moved the rest of the sand outside and walked with Naruto to a table in the kitchen. "So Naruto, what brings you to Suna?"

"I came with the Hokage, but I think the reason he brought me was because he was worried about what the villagers would do with him not there to protect me."

"Wouldn't your parents protect you, and why would they want to harm you?"

"I'm an orphan and the old man takes care of me when he can. The reason is because I'm like Gaara." Yashamaru's eyes widened. "There's a reason that I came here with Gaara, it's to help explain that you don't have to worry about him falling asleep. My demon spoke with his and took care of the problem, he won't try to take over and Gaara should gain more control over his abilities."

"Yashamaru, please don't be angry, he wanted to help me."

Yashamaru smiled at Gaara. "I'm not angry, it's just a lot to take in. Thank you for helping Gaara, Naruto. It pains me to admit that I was afraid of what could happen if the demon took over, but even then I knew it wouldn't be his fault."

"He's lucky to have someone like you Yashamaru. Excuse me if I'm being rude, but are you a ninja?"

"I am, but since I'm raising Gaara, I haven't been on any mission in a while. How did you know?"

"The way you move, it's with such precision and sheath." Yashamaru laughed and they continued with their dinner. 'That went better than I thought.'

'He's very understanding, but I think it's mainly that you helped me.'

'Even if that is the only reason, I like him, he's nice and cares greatly for you.' During dinner Naruto answered many question about himself, including which demon he contained. He had also asked some questions about Suna and the surrounding area. After dinner though, he had to leave and asked Yashamaru directions to the hotel. He thanked them both and said his goodbyes before leaving.

It didn't take long for him to get to the hotel and he found one of the ninja that had escorted them, waiting in the lobby. "Hello Naruto, Sandaime has been waiting for you."

He led Naruto to the room that they were staying in. "Ah, Naruto, how was you day?"

"Great, I met the Kazekage's son. We have a lot in common and I had dinner with him."

"Which son was it?"

"His name was Gaara, he's really nice and so is his uncle Yashamaru."

"How wonderful Naruto. I glad you made a friend of him."

"Yeah, but it's too bad that we live so far apart."

"Naruto, how about I bring you with me the next time I come?"

"Thanks old man." Naruto ran up and hugged him. "I'm gonna go to bed, see ya in the morning."

"Good night Naruto."

Naruto moved out of the room into a small bedroom and laid down. 'Good night Gaara, sleep well.'

'Same to you Naruto, I'll see you tomorrow.' Naruto closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

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The next morning Sandaime, Naruto and the others stood at the gate, Sandaime and the Kazekage were talking and Naruto was looking for Gaara. He finally saw him running up and Naruto moved over to him. The Kazekage saw this, but didn't say anything. He had been told about the boy, but didn't believe him to be a threat.

"Good morning Gaara, did you sleep well?"

"Yes, and I owe it to you."

"I'm happy I could help."

"As I said, I'm going to give you something." He sculpted another figure in Naruto's hand. It was one of himself, as big as the one he had made of Naruto the night before. "This way we'll be able to see each other as well."

"Makes sense to me." Just like the other, he turned it to glass. "It's about time for us to leave, but the old man said he'd bring me back the next time he came."

"I'm sorry to see you leave Naruto, but at least we won't be completely apart."

Naruto smiled and hugged Gaara. "I hope to see you soon. And when we strong enough, I promise we'll find those like us."

"That time will come, and until then let us try our best."

"Naruto, it's time. Thank you for your hospitality Lord Kazekage."

"It's my pleasure Lord Hokage." Naruto said his last goodbyes and walked over to Sandaime, who bowed to the Kazekage and turned to leave.

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When Naruto had returned to class, he had ridded himself of his mask and crafted a new one, it still hid his pain, but not through smiles and idiocy. The sudden change had unnerved the other students and Iruka, he had become almost as stoic as Sasuke and Shino, but was more social. Though no one could understand why, he would smile every so often. He would usually not be doing anything, but a smile would appear, reminding them of how he used to be.

Iruka had given them a test the first day he returned and though he wasn't required to take it, as he wasn't there to learn about Bunshin, he took it anyways. When he had scored higher than even Sakura, Iruka suspected him of cheating. But when asked about a question not on the test, he was awed that Naruto had given him, word for word, the answer from the textbook without looking anywhere but at him.

Naruto was planning on fulfilling his promise to Gaara, he soon took both the title of smartest and strongest of the class. The students were beside themselves. 'How could that loser be that good?'

Iruka couldn't understand how he had over looked the most talented in the class. 'And Kyuubi couldn't be helping him, he does even know about him. Even if he did, why would Kyuubi care anything about our jutsu?'

Naruto sat at the back of the class watching the others. He smiled inwardly. 'I haven't even show them my true power and some are already paling over what I can do. Sasuke looks pissed too, and that damn Sakura is because he is, or maybe because she not the brightest anymore. Who cares, I have better things to do, their moving way to slow to keep up. Though they can do Bunshin, I still can't figure out why I can't.'

'**IT'S BECAUSE OF ME KIT.'**

'You? Why does it matter that you're here too?'

'YOU HAVE TOO MUCH CHAKRA BECAUSE OF ME. BUT I KNOW OF A DIFFERENT KIND OF CLONE THAT EVEN YOUR HOKAGE DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT.'

'Sounds interesting, what can you tell me about them?'

'UNLIKE NORMAL CLONES, THESE NEED MORE CHAKRA OBVIOUSLY, BUT THERE DON'T DISAPPEAR AFTER ONE HIT, THEY CAN TAKE ALMOST AS MUCH DAMAGE AS YOU CAN, AND THEIR KNOWLEDGE IS TRANSFERRED TO YOU WHEN THEY DO.'

'Can I make them disappear when I want them to?'

'YES, AND THEY ALSO MOVE AND FIGHT ACCORDING TO YOUR WILL.'

'I start working on them tonight.'

'MAKE SURE YOU'RE NOT FOLLOWED, THIS TECHNIQUE IS NOT SOMETHING THAT I WANT TO BE STOLEN.'

'The only people who would spy on my training would have to memorize that seals and do it themselves?'

'I SHOW YOU THE SIGNS, BUT AFTER THAT I TEACH YOU TO USE JUTSU WITH HALF SIGNS SO NO ONE CAN DO IT BUT YOU. THIS TECHNIQUE IS IMPORTANT TO ME, I DON'T WANT OTHERS TO USE IT. WORK UP THE SPEED YOU MAKE SEALS AT SO THEY CAN'T SEE WHICH ONES YOU MAKE.'

'I'll do that first then. Thanks Kyuubi.' Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when Iruka started talking.

"Class, it's time for lunch, be back in the room in an hour." Everyone left through the door, but Naruto just jumped out of the window. Iruka just stared after the boy. 'Why did he hide his true abilities, and what happened to make him stop?'

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Naruto was sitting far up in the only tree on the grounds, not really thinking about anything, just relaxing there with his eyes shut. He could feel the chakra of those around him, but didn't really care what they were doing. Or at least until he felt someone approaching him, not even opening his eyes, he addressed the newcomer. "What do you want?"

"How did you become so strong in such a short time?" Naruto recognized the voice and smirked.

"Planning revenge Uchiha?" The reply was a growl. "I didn't become strong in a short time, I held back since I first came here. If you want to be stronger, you have to work for it. Unlike everything else, no one can just hand you the strength you want. Someone could hand you Itachi's head, but I'm sure you don't want that."

"You're right, I want to take it myself."

"Then work for it, you can't expect everything to just be given to you."

"Your one to talk slacker."

"I only slacked in class because I have a better teacher than Iruka could ever hope to be. I know everything we'll learn in the next two years. I've had to work for everything that I have. Unlike you, I don't have an inheritance, or respected clan name to use. Do you want to know why I didn't show it before? Because I didn't have any reason to, now I do. Now if you don't mind, leave me in peace." He knew that Sasuke would be seething, but was surprised by now quickly the Uchiha had left. He heard Kyuubi laughing. 'What?'

'YOU WERE RELEASING KILLING INTENT, AND IT WASN'T EVEN MINE. DAMN KIT, I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF YOU MADE HIM PISS HIMSELF WITH THE AMOUNT YOU WERE USING.'

'I don't care, I don't sit anywhere near him, but the mutt's gonna get a noise full.' Kyuubi laughed harder, Naruto knew he hated dogs, and it just happened that there was an Inuzuka in his class. The boy always brought his dog to class as well. Naruto sat up and looked around, clearly his killing intent had reached more people than just Sasuke.'Good, maybe now, they'll leave me alone.'

'THE UCHIHA WILL BE A PROBLEM, HE'S POWER HUNGRY AND WON'T STOP UNTIL HE FINDS A WAY TO BEAT YOU.'

'He'll have a hell of a time. He doesn't even have the Sharingan, and he plans to kill his brother? He won't last more than a minute even with the Sharingan, Itachi was almost invincible, most jonin still don't want to face him.'

'I DON'T THINK THAT WE COULD DEFEAT HIM.'

'I don't either, but one day I may be able to.'

'WELL SINCE YOU'RE NO LONG HIDING YOUR ABILITIES, MIGHT AS WELL ARRIVE IN STYLE.'

'I wouldn't have in any other way. It'll probably scare the hell out of Iruka, I can't believe I have to call someone like him sensei. I was even being modest to the Uchiha, two years ha, I could have graduated by now if it weren't for the Bunshin thing and thanks to you I have a solution.'

'Naruto, are you back in Konoha yet?'

Naruto smiled widely. 'Yes I am Gaara, in fact I'm at lunch from the academy.'

'As am I. Naruto, I was wondering if you were going to slowly adjust to your real self?'

'Actually, I just dropped the mask, or at least the smiling idiot parts, I still hide my pain, but that something that I'll probably always do.'

'I hope that works for you, some might find it insulting that you hid your potential. I have to go, it's time to go back to class.'

'I'll talk to ya later Gaara.' The bell rang indicating that lunch was over and the students all started toward the doors. 'What a waste of time.' Naruto smiled and disappeared in a burst of flames.

------------------------

Iruka was still staring at the test papers when he heard a crackling sound. He looked up just in time to see a small fire disappear, leave Naruto stand where it had been. The boy just sat down in his seat and didn't say anything as Iruka sat in disbelief. 'Was that Shunshin? That's a high chunin jutsu. It shouldn't even be possible for him to have enough chakra to use it. What else is he capable of?'

The other students started filling in and stayed away from Naruto as much as possible. Only four people would sit anywhere near him, the lazy bum Shikamaru Nara, his best friend Choji Akimichi, the bug user Shino, and the weird heiress Hinata Hyuga, but who was he to say who's weird? These were the only ones he could stand to be around, but due to the number of students, it was unlikely that he would be placed on a team with one of them.

------------------------

Two years after Naruto and Gaara had met, he had stopped wearing the orange jumpsuit. Instead he wore black pants and boots, a blood red robe-like shirt and sash around his waist, and an open black sleeveless vest that's bottom was half an inch above the sash. He was just under five and a half feet tall and he let his hair grow out to shoulder length.

Naruto had finally achieved the speed in making hand signs that Kyuubi demanded before teaching him the Bunshin. He was out in the woods when a panicked Gaara spoke to him. 'Naruto, Yashamaru's dead! I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident!'

'Gaara, calm down and tell me everything.'

'Earlier today, my father came to me, he said that I was progressing faster than he had thought I would.' Naruto could hear the venom in Gaara's voice when he mentioned his father. 'I thought he was proud of me, what I fool I am. He wasn't proud, he was scared that he wouldn't be able to control me.'

'I was walking around after school and I was confronted by some men. They started yelling at me and calling me demon. I tried to ignore them, but I couldn't and ran. I was on top of the Kazekage building and several kunai where thrown at my back. The sand protected me, but it also attacked. It crushed my attacker, but he was left barely alive. I removed the mask to see Yashamaru… he was smiling. He told me that my father ordered Shukaku be placed in me, and him to kill me. He said he hated me for taking away my mother. She died when I was born because of Shukaku. I don't know what to do, Naruto please help me.'

'Gaara, I know that he cared about you. I met him once and I could see it. I'm sorry to hear about your mother, but that is not your fault, if it was your father's order to place Shukaku in you then it's his fault, just like Yashamaru's death is. He was under orders, and if he disobeyed, he would be dead anyways. You did nothing wrong, you were protecting yourself, but it is tragic that he was the one. Your father is twisted, making the man who raised you take your life, hell even most S-rank missing-nin aren't that heartless.'

'What should I do?'

'I have no right to tell you what to do Gaara. If you still plan to help those like us, you have to continue on, but there's a chance that he'll send others after you. I don't understand how he could do something like that to his own son.'

'I don't think he looks at me as a son, but as a weapon. One that he's afraid to lose control of, but I am no one's weapon, he can't harm me, and has forced me to take away the only person that he could threaten to keep me under his thumb.'

'Gaara, Yashamaru's loss is going to be hard, but I'm here for you any time you need me.'

'I appreciate it Naruto, but I don't want to trouble you with my problems.'

'It's no trouble, you're the only friend that I have and if I can help I will.'

'Alright, but I still feel bad about it.'

'Don't worry, there very well might come a day when I need your help with a similar problem.'

'May that day never come. Thank you Naruto, I need to be rested for tomorrow, good night.'

'Good night Gaara, pleasant dreams.' Naruto sighed, the turn of events had worried him. 'What if the old man feels that way about me?'

'HE KNOWS WELL ENOUGH NOT TO MESS WITH ME, AND STILL BELIEVES YOU IGNORANT TO MY PRESENSE. IF ANYTHING, HE FEARS THAT SUCH AN ATTEMPT MAY DRIVE YOU TO CONTACT ME.'

'Kyuubi, I don't think I can train anymore tonight, these thoughts will distract me and there's something that I have to ask you after listening to Gaara.'

'**WHAT IS IT KIT?'**

'Where you sealed in me before birth? Did we kill my mother?'


	3. Chapter 3

'Kyuubi, I don't think I can train anymore tonight, these thoughts will distract me and there's something that I have to ask you after listening to Gaara.'

'**WHAT IS IT KIT?'**

'Where you sealed in me before birth? Did we kill my mother?'

Kyuubi growled. **'NO, SHE WAS KILLED BEFORE MY ATTACK!' **Kyuubi sighed. **'I'M SORRY ABOUT THAT KIT. THERE'S SOMETHING THAT I NEED TO TELL YOU, AND IT HAS TO DO WITH YOUR MOTHER.'**

'You knew her?'

'**I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO YES. SHE WAS THE MOST WONDERFUL PERSON I HAVE EVER MET, AND ONE OF THE VERY FEW HUMANS I TRUST.'**

'If I didn't know better, I would say you loved her.'

'THEN YOU DON'T KNOW BETTER, BECAUSE I DID. WHAT SURPRISED ME MOST ABOUT HER, IS THAT SHE LOVED ME AS WELL. I ATTACKED THIS VILLAGE BECAUSE SOMEONE FROM HERE HAD ATTACKED AND KILLED HER JUST BECAUSE SHE HAD GIVEN ME A SON.'

'Does that mean that I'm…'

'**YES, YOU'RE MY SON.'**

'If I'm your son, how did I end up here with you sealed in me?'

'YOUR MOTHER WAS KILLED, I COULDN'T LEAVE YOU OR YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ANOTHER DEMON OR SOMETHING ELSE. I DID THE ONLY THING THAT I COULD, I BROUGHT YOU ALONG, UNFORTUNATELY, I HAD TO HIDE YOU SOMEWHERE WHEN THE FIGHTING BECAME TOO DANGEROUS. THAT BASTARD YONDAIME FOUND YOU AND SEALED ME AWAY IN YOU.'

'Why didn't you tell me before, and does this make me a demon like they say I am?'

'I'M ASHAMED THAT I COULDN'T PROTECT YOUR MOTHER AND FEARED THAT YOU WOULD HATE ME FOR IT.'

'I could never blame you for her death. If you had been able, I'm sure you would have saved her.'

'THANK YOU KIT, AS FOR YOUR OTHER QUESTION, NO YOU'RE NOT A DEMON. WELL, NOT A FULL DEMON, YOUR MOTHER WAS HUMAN AFTER ALL. YOU'RE A HALF DEMON AND AS SUCH HAVE POWERS ABOVE THAT OF ANY NORMAL HUMAN.'

'So I have demonic powers other then the one you give me? Will they be fire based as well?'

'YOU HAVE TO EARN YOUR DEMONIC ABILITIES, BUT YES YOU DO HAVE THEM. AS FOR THEIR AFFINITY, IT MAY BE FIRE, BUT JUST BECAUSE MINE ARE DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOURS WILL BE. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE CHANGES YOUR BODY GOES THROUGH WHEN USING MY CHAKRA?'

'Yes, my pupils are slits like yours and my whisker marks get ticker and bolder, then there's my nails and teeth.'

'THAT IS WHAT YOU TRULY LOOK LIKE, I HAVE USED AN UNDETECTABLE GENJUTSU TO HIDE IT, NOTHING CAN SEE THROUGH IT, BUT WHEN YOU USE MY POWER IT TEMPORARILY DROPS TO CONSERVE CHAKRA.'

'How do I earn my demonic powers?'

'THE FIRST WILL MANIFEST WHEN YOU REACH A CERTAIN POINT IN YOUR LIFE. IT'S NORMALLY WHEN YOUR ABLE TO MATE, BUT SINCE YOUR PART HUMAN THAT MAY NOT BE FOR A FEW MORE YEARS. THEN DEPANDING ON YOUR AFFINITY, THERE'S A DIFFERENT TRAIN REGIMENT TO FOLLOW.'

'And those can't be copied?'

'NO, THEY'RE UNIQUE TO YOU. NOW THAT YOU KNOW, I CAN TELL YOU THAT THE BUNSHIN I'M GOING TO TEACH YOU IS A CREATION OF YOUR MOTHER'S. SHE WAS UNABLE TO USE THE NORMAL ONES AS WELL AND WASN'T ALLOWED TO LEARN THE SHADOW CLONES.'

'Was she from this village?'

'I'M UNSURE, SHE DIDN'T LIKE TALKING ABOUT HER PAST, AND I WASN'T GOING TO FORCE HER TO.'

'Wait, how the hell did it work between you two? I mean your really fucking big, and she was still a human.'

Kyuubi chuckled. 'COME TO ME AND I'LL SHOW YOU.' Almost immediately Naruto was in the sewer again. He quickly made his way to Kyuubi's cell. "CURIOUS ARE YOU?" Naruto nodded and Kyuubi laughed again. "WATCH CLOSELY KIT."

Kyuubi seemed to disappear from behind the bars, and in his place was a man about six feet tall with fiery red hair (The same as his fur.) that reach to his mid-back, blood red eyes and thick, dark whisker marks. He wore armor of the same color as his hair. "This is the form I normally used around your mother. She knew about my other one as well, but I preferred to be able to hold her close to me. It also made it easier to enter villages when needed."

"Could you describe my mom, I would like to know what she looked like."

"I can do better than that, I can show you. I can show you my memories, but for this, I'll show you how I met her." Naruto nodded and then he and Kyuubi were surrounded by darkness.

-----------------------

The darkness shrunk away to show Kyuubi in his fox form moving through the forest. He suddenly stopped and his ears twitched while he smelled the air. He growled and ran to his left. Naruto wasn't sure if it was away from or towards whatever made him stop, but would guess it was towards.

Kyuubi continued to run, causing the ground to shake and stopped at the edge of a clearing. There were three men, standing over a blonde woman with the most beautiful blue eyes Naruto had ever seen. They were filled with fear, but also held determination. Kyuubi's eyes filled with anger and he turned into his human form before entering the clearing. 'What cowards you are, harassing a mere woman."

The men turned to face him. "This is none of your business, leave now before you get hurt."

Kyuubi laughed. "Me get hurt? Oh, this is too funny, you humans believe yourselves able to hurt one such as I? You have no idea who you are dealing with." His mouth turned into a feral smile. "Allow me to educate you." The men paled as Kyuubi reverted back to his fox form. "FLEE NOW MORTALS, THIS IS MY TERRITORY, BE GRATEFUL THAT I DON'T KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND." The men did just that, but the woman moved towards Kyuubi, unafraid.

"Thank you Lord Kitsune."

"I DO NOT ABIDE SUCH COWARDICE. YOU ARE EITHER BRAVE OR FOOLISH TO APPROACH ME WOMAN."

"Will you please return to your other form, I wish to speak with you some more." Kyuubi looked slightly disturbed by this but did so. "You have my gratitude for helping me."

"Keep it, I have no use for something so trivial."

"May I ask your name?"

"Does it matter? I'm a demon and I detest the weakness of you humans."

"I would like to know how I should refer to you. And if you believed all humans weak, you wouldn't have bother saving me. There must have been something about me that you found interesting."

"There does seem to be something different about you, though what it is escapes me. Very well, I'm known as Kyuubi no Kitsune. Would you prefer me to use your name as well or simply call you woman?"

"My name is Hinote. My lord Kyuubi, which form is your true self?"

"To be honest, I can't remember. My birth was so long ago that it has faded."

"You have two faces, one that is fearsome and animalistic, but there this one where you seem so gentle, but strong. If I hadn't seen you transform, I wouldn't believe you to be a demon. I was told that your kind were evil creatures that would kill anything it your path, but never was I told that demons were so handsome."

"My what a charmer you are. You live up to your name, warming even a demon's heart. So did you charm those men and make off with their wallets?"

Hinote blushed. "I have to be able to buy food somehow, it's not my fault they fall for me so easily."

"You would make one hell of a fox demon, we're tricksters by nature and love nothing more then amusing ourselves by creating chaos and disorder between humans. Perhaps that is what I saw in you. But nonetheless, you are nothing more than a whore."

Hinote slapped him across the face. "I've never slept with any of them! I charmed them and while hanging off them slipped their wallets, nothing more!" She placed both hands over her mouth as she realized what she had done.

To her surprise Kyuubi was smiling. "You're braver than I took you for, even if you did regret it shortly after, you still had the courage to strike me. Tell me, would you like to travel with me, or do you have family waiting for you?"

Her eyes fell to the ground. "I don't have a family anymore."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you remember such things."

"It's alright, as for your offer, I would love to come with you."

"Then let us be off, we have a long ways to travel." Darkness enveloped them again and they were back at the cell.

---------------------------

"Mom sure got you to come around quickly."

"She had that affect on most people. She had a charisma to change people's mind about her easily, which is why she was such a good thief."

"She had a point though, I've had to steal to eat too."

"That's true. Anyway, about three months later we decided that we wanted to stay together. Almost two years after we met, you were born and she died less than a month later. I leave it up to you whether to call me Kyuubi like you always have or your father. Either way I will still help you, so you don't have to worry about that being affected."

"I've already decided. It's about time that I get to bed, I talk to you tomorrow… dad."

Kyuubi smiled. "Good night kit."

--------------------------

The next morning Naruto had woken up late, but it didn't really matter, though he couldn't make it on time if he walked, he used Shunshin to appear in the classroom. When he arrived, he found it to be strangely dead, the lights were off and he couldn't sense anyone in or around the building. He sat down to figure out why. He was puzzled until he realized what day it was.

'I forgot, there's no class because of the festival. According to them it's my birthday today. Best to stay out of sight, don't want any unwanted attention, and I do have to make up for last night. And there's only one place I know of that both the villagers and most ninja won't look for me. I wonder why they avoid that place so much, and what's with the high fence, what could be so important about that forest that they have to keep people out?'

'I DON'T KNOW KIT, BUT IT MAKES FOR THE PREFECT PLACE TO TRAIN.'

Naruto used Shunshin again and appeared just inside of the fence. He ran deep into the forest for half an hour until he decided he was far enough in that no one would search for him. Kyuubi pulled him into his mind where he was again in his human form.

"**Kit, while chakra doesn't work in here, I can show you the hand signs required for this jutsu. Practice them in here before trying to use them out there in case someone did follow."**

Naruto nodded and was shown ten signs, which he repeated again and again, each time going faster until he was positive he knew them. He exited his mindscape and was about to perform the jutsu when he felt another chakra signature moving towards him at an insane rate.

'Whoever it is, they're almost as strong as those ANBU people. This should be interesting.' He sat and waited for the person to come to him, and when they were basically right on top of him, he stood up, annoyed that they weren't coming to face him.

High in a tree, purple haired woman in a trench coat watched the boy the sensors had picked up. 'Pathetic, I came all the way here just to find that some snot nosed punk had snuck in.' When he stood up, she saw him smirk and disappear into flames. 'What the hell? Maybe I underestimated him, Shunshin isn't difficult, but for someone his age to do it so easily, it's pretty damn impressive.'

"Why are you here?" She slowly turned her head to see the boy standing back to back with her.

'I didn't even sense him there, how can he suppress his chakra to the point that it's undetectable?' "I came out here to find out who was trespassing here. Why are you here brat?"

"I came to train away from prying eyes, I didn't mean to intrude."

"Do you have any idea where you are kid?"

"I know where I am, but am unaware of any title for this place."

"This is Training Area 44, also known as the Forest of Death."

"That would explain why so many are afraid of this place, but it isn't as bad as its name suggest. I've been here many times in the past, but this is the first that I've seen anyone else willing to enter."

"So you're the one, we figured that some punks were trying to prove that they weren't chicken shits. Why aren't you at the festival?"

"They don't want me there, I've tried in the past and now I don't care to go."

"Wait a second, let me see your face." He turned around and looked up at her. Her eyes widened. 'Holy shit, it's him.' She smiled at him, which was the last thing he had expected. At first he thought that she was kind of nice, but that smile sent chills down his spine. "Well then, how about you and I have a little sparring match, it will help you more than any training."

"Sounds interesting, but I should warn you that I won't be holding back."

"Good, cause neither will I. I just hope you can back up that mouth of yours." Naruto just smirked again and jumped to the ground. She followed and stood no more than ten feet from him. "I just realized that I didn't introduce myself."

"You don't have to, I know who you are. You're Anko Mitarashi."

"I see my reputation proceeds me."

"Not really, you reek of snakes and sake, and there are only two people that have ever used snakes from this village, and one turned traitor."

"How the hell would you know?"

"You'd be surprised what you hear while hiding from those who would want to do you harm. Enough talk, I want to see if you live up to the reputation I _did_ hear." Naruto moved into a fighting style Anko hadn't seen before, it's was almost like the Inuzuka clan's Shikyaku no Jutsu, but he wasn't completely bent over.

She had barely gotten into her own when he charged her on all fours. He had gotten within striking range, but was force to jump aside to avoid be kick in the back of the head. He connected with a tree feet first and propelled himself back towards her even faster. He managed to take a swipe at her, but hit nothing but her trench coat.

He tore a piece off of it and when he landed he turned to face her. He held up the piece. "Looks like I got myself a trophy. So Hebi-hime what are you going to do?"

Anko had to use every ounce of her will power not to blush at the nickname. "You're going to pay for ruining my coat." She bit her thumb and smeared the blood over a tattoo on her right arm. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" There was a puff of smoke and then a large snake quickly moved out of it and before Naruto could move, it had wrapped him tightly and started to constrict upon him.

Breathing became harder for him. 'Damn it, if I don't get out soon I going to pass out.'

Anko walked over to him. "You won't get out, just admit defeat and I'll let you go."

"Not a chance, I won't lose." 'This is going to hurt like hell, but it's the only way.'

'KIT, DON'T DO IT! IT'S NOT WORTH IT, THIS WOMAN ISN'T GOING TO LET UP JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE HURT. SAVE YOURSELF THE PAIN AND GIVE UP NOW.'

'I can't believe the great Kyuubi no Kitsune is so willing to give up. You know as well as I do that if I give up now, that no one will respect me. Besides, I have this thing about snakes.'

'**WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT KIT?'**

'How did you know who killed mom?'

'I FOLLOWED THE SCENT… I UNDERSTAND NOW KIT, BUT HOW DO YOU REMEMBER THAT?'

'I don't know, I remember that smell, but it isn't the same as hers.'

'I AGREE, SO IT MUST BE THE OTHER.'

'He will pay with his life, that I swear.' Anko was about to release him after he had spaced out for several minutes, but she saw him smile at her. "You shouldn't mess with me Hebi-hime, you have no idea how far I will go." A popping sound was heard through out the forest and then screaming. When he stopped screaming, he started to struggle against the serpent and slowly freed himself from the coils enough to drive a kunai into its head making it disappear.

Anko stared at him in shock as he grabbed his upper left arm and shoved it back into the socket, wincing as he did. "You have to be the most annoying little brat I have ever met. You dislocated your own shoulder to escape and you still want to fight? Don't you ever give up?"

"No, why should I give up when there is still life in me?"

"You're a real piece of work kid. I look forward to seeing how far you go." She turned around and started to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"As entertaining as this was, I don't have all day to play with you. See ya around."

'Anko Mitarashi, she certainly lives up to her reputation. She insane, a sadistic bitch, and she pretty damn hot.'

'THAT'S MY BOY, NOT EVEN OLD ENOUGH TO MATE AND ALREADY SEEKING A PARTNER.'

'She's like three times my age!'

'SO, THAT GAP IS NOTHING COMPARED TO YOUR MOTHER AND I.'

'She did seem to like me. Still, she won't look twice at me unless I can prove myself worthy of being with her.'

'**SO YOU'RE GETTING BACK TO TRAINING?'**

'Yeah, but I think I'm gonna rest a little first, let my shoulder heal a little before straining it.' He sat down next to a tree and closed his eyes. 'Hey dad, when is my real birthday?'

'IT WAS SEPTEMBER 14. THREE WEEKS BEFORE YOUR MOTHERS MURDER.'

'Orochimaru, the snake Sannin, he will pay for what he has taken from us. I'll rip his heart out and show it to him while it still beats.'

'IT WILL HAVE TO WAIT, YOU'RE NO WHERE NEAR HIS LEVEL YET KIT.'

'I know, but nothing can stop me from killing him.'


	4. Chapter 4

Several weeks had passed since Naruto's ran in with Anko in the Forest of Death, but he had yet to tell Gaara about what he had learned, so during lunch, he contacted him. 'Hey Gaara, you busy?'

'No Naruto, what is it?'

'I found out who my parents are. You're not going to believe it.'

'That's wonderful Naruto, please tell me.'

'Well my mother's name was Hinote, unfortunately, she was killed less than a month after I was born. Who my father is, is what you won't believe, he's Kyuubi.'

'Really? Kyuubi's you're father? That is hard to believe.'

'I know, but he showed me his memories. He was sealed inside of me because he wanted to avenge my mother and Yondaime found where he hid me so I would be safe.'

'I'm happy that you've found your family Naruto.'

Naruto could hear the pain in his voice and mentally hit himself on the forehead. 'I'm sorry Gaara, I got so caught up that I forgot about your family issues. Anything happen?'

'No, he might not send anyone after I killed a family member.'

'I hope so, but you never know with someone that twisted. Anything new in class?'

'I've learned the basics, including Kawarimi, though I have no use for it and have mastered the Suna Bunshin no Jutsu.'

'No surprise there. I found out that I can't make normal clones because I have too much chakra. Instead I'm learning a type my mother created, no one other than Kyuubi knows it. Other then that, I've gotten the other skills down along with Shunshin.'

'Does it appear as smoke or leaves?'

'Neither, it's flames. My guess is that it's because of Kyuubi.'

'Mine will probably be the Suna Shunshin, not only is it normal for ninja of Suna, but Shukaku is a sand spirit.'

'You know, the things you mentioned all have names, but mine don't. I'll have to think of something to call them.'

'Just don't name them after yourself, there's a boy here that does that and they sound stupid.'

'Don't worry, Kyuubi won't let me name them anything stupid. Sorry Gaara, I gotta get going, class is about to start again.'

'I'll speak with you later then.'

It had been some time since the killing intent incident, and most people had forgotten, but Sasuke still paled when Naruto walked by him. Taking his normal seat at the back of the class, Naruto looked around bored. The other students were doing what they always did, the fangirls fighting over who got sit next to Sasuke, Shikamaru was sleeping, Choji was eating, Kiba was glaring at Sasuke, Shino was just sitting there and Hinata was watching Naruto from the other side of the classroom.

'This is pathetic, these people don't even try to become stronger. The fangirls worry more about their looks and Sasuke expects everything to just be given to him. Shino and Kiba might be worthy teammates. Shikamaru is lazier than hell, and Choji is constantly eating, though I think I heard that his family needs the bulk to use their jutsu. The other guys here are weak. Then there Hinata, she's timid, and sweet. I don't think she could stand to hurt a fly, why the hell would she want to be a ninja?' Naruto sighed. 'Even though that's true, I'd rather be on a team with her then one of those damn fangirls.'

------------------------------

Two years passed and Naruto had yet to come up with a name for the new type clones, but had decided to name his Shunshin after his mother. Kyuubi had him working mostly on using half seals and chakra control in preparation for the day he got his first demonic ability. When the day finally did come, he went back to the Forest of Death to try it.

He sat with his eyes closed as he listened to Kyuubi explain what he needed to do. **'NOW CONCENTRATE ON YOUR CHAKRA, YOU SHOULD FEEL THE SOURCES.'**

'Yeah, one of them yours, one's my normal, and then there's a new one.'

'**HOLD OUT YOUR HAND AND FOCUS ON THE NEW SOURCE. THIS IS JUST A TEST TO SEE WHAT AFFINITY YOU ARE.'** Naruto did so and a shining ball grew there, hovering just above his hand. **'HURRY KIT, DO THE SAME WITH THE OTHER HAND!'**

Naruto heard the panic in Kyuubi's voice but was too slow to react as a small black ball formed inside the other and the two swirled together. **'SHIT! KIT GET RID OF IT NOW! DON'T AGRUE!'** Naruto threw the ball and it exploded before touching the ground.

'What the hell was that?!'

'YOU HAVE A RARE AFFINITY CALLED MEIAN. INSTEAD OF AN ELEMENT, IT'S LIGHT AND DARKNESS. IT'S UNSTABLE WHEN THE TWO ARE MIXED TOGETHER.'

'Yeah, I saw that, how can I use it without taking my arm off?'

'YOUR HANDS EACH CONTROL ONE, BUT IT TAKES A LOT CONTROL TO USE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER, CONTROL YOU DON'T HAVE YET.'

'So more chakra control exercises?'

'YES, BUT I ONLY KNOW THE TWO I TAUGHT YOU, YOU'LL HAVE TO ASK SOMEONE FOR OTHERS.'

'Maybe the old man can help me. If not, I sure he knows someone who can. Before I go though, I want to see these things separate.'

'**BE CAREFUL KIT.' **Naruto held out both arms and concentrated again, this time a ball appeared over both hands. The shining one over the right and one that was the darkest black Naruto had ever seen, over the left.

Naruto smiled and surround his hands with its chakra. The result astounded him, the energy spread over his skin like a liquid. His right hand shined like the sun while his left was as dark as the void. 'Hey dad, you know anything about kenjutsu?'

'**A LITTLE, WHY?'**

'I heard a skilled smith could infuse chakra into a blade and was thinking about getting two and having each infused with one of these. But if I don't know how to use the swords, it would be meaningless.'

'I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH HELP I'LL BE WITH THIS, BUT I CAN TEACH YOU WHAT I KNOW UNTIL YOU FIND SOMEONE BETTER SUITED TO.'

Naruto looked down at his hands. "I wonder what these are capable of separate." He moved over to a tree and hit it with an open right palm. There was a spray of splinters. "Wow, that was more than I hoped for." He did the same with the left, but this time his hand went into the trunk. When he pulled it out he examined the tree. "What the hell, there's no hole."

'IT COULD COME IN HANDY ONCE YOU CAN USE ONLY THAT ONE.'

'I agree.' "Well time to go see the old man." 'Should I tell him about this?'

'MAYBE LATER, FOR NOW IF HE ASKS TELL HIM YOU'RE WORKING ON SOMETHING THAT NEEDS A LOT OF CONTROL.'

Naruto disappeared in his Hinote Shunshin, unaware that Sandaime had been watch using his crystal ball. He dispelled the image as Naruto appeared from the flames. "Hey old man, haven't seen you in a while."

"That's true, we've both been busy, haven't we?"

"That's actually why I'm here, I wanted to know if you knew of any other chakra control exercises besides tree climbing and water walking."

"I'm I to assume that this has to do with that performance in the Training Area 44?"

Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Saw that huh? Yeah I trying out something new and I don't seem to have as much control as I need."

"Alright Naruto, I introduce you to someone I believe can help you if you tell me one thing."

"What is it?" 

"How did you know to get rid of the first ball?"

"I don't really know, there was just this voice in my head that said to get rid of it. My instincts haven't failed me before so I did."

"Naruto, I want you to come back tomorrow after class and I'll introduce you to the person I was talking about, she has better control than anyone I know, maybe even me."

"Alright, I'll see ya then. Thanks old man." Naruto waved and left in the same fashion as he arrived.

'Let us hope it was only instincts.'

------------------------------

Class went by incredibly fast for Naruto because he was so focused on his meeting with Sandaime. Instead of wasting time walking he used Hinote Shunshin to just appear in his office. He had been there for fifteen minutes, all the while completely masking his chakra.

It unnerved the Hokage as he was standing in the same room and couldn't feel him there, but he didn't show it. Naruto stood in the corner made by the wall with windows and the one with the door. His eyes were closed and he smiled when he felt a chakra signature coming closer.

"Hey old man, you expecting anyone else?"

"No one that I'm aware of. Why do you ask?"

"The person I'm here to meet, she wouldn't be Anko Mitarashi would it?"

"I see you met before. By your smile, I'd say the encounter wasn't too bad."

"It was okay. We talked a little, then we sparred, and she left."

"Hopefully, she didn't do too much damage. She tends to go overboard when she fights."

"She only did one jutsu, and that was a summoning. Other then that, all that really happened was I tore a bit of her coat off, but that was a couple years ago."

The old man was staring at the boy, mouth wide open. "You actually tore her coat and she didn't kill you?"

Naruto shrugged. "She said she would, but either forgot or decided she liked me."

The door came bursting in and Anko walked through. "Hey boss, what did you want to see me about?"

"He's the reason I called you here." Sandaime pointed behind her and she turned around throwing a kunai. It lodged into the wall right beside his cheek, cutting it.

"Nice to see you again too Hebi-hime."

"You're that brat from the forest. Still hiding your chakra, but are you still so reckless during a fight?"

"You're one to talk Anko, we both know that you don't think during a fight either."

"So what do you want me to do with him?"

"You have better control than anyone else I know and he needs some help in that, I was hoping you would willingly help him."

"So start him on tree climbing and water walking like you would any other genin."

"First, I'm not even a genin yet, and second, I already know those."

"Well, well, it seems Iruka's ranting wasn't full of shit."

"That's nothing, I haven't even shown him my best material. Which is why I need help, I don't have the control to use it properly."

"Tell ya what brat, one more sparring match and if you can beat me, I'll help you."

"You're on, but you'll regret it."

Anko smirked. "We'll see. Now follow me."

The two of them left the room and the Hokage lit his pipe. 'This won't go well. Whichever training area they pick will be destroyed and have to be rebuilt.' He sighed. 'Knowing Anko, the damage will be too much to be considered a D-rank mission.'

--------------------------------

The training area was littered with craters and broken trees, and in the middle of all this destruction was Naruto standing over Anko's head, the only thing not buried.

"What the hell kind of clones were those?!"

"My kind, they take one hell of a beating, don't they? So, you give?"

"Yes, now get me out of here." She watched as his arms changed to different colors and he reached into the ground with his left. He pulled her out and the color disappeared. "What the hell did you just do?"

"That's what I need your help with."

"It looked like you could control it just fine to me."

"I can't use just one at a time yet. My other hand started to shine if you didn't notice and I have to be careful not to touch it against anything I don't want to."

"Show me."

He shrugged and walked over to a fallen tree. "You might want to stand back." He concentrated again, but only enough for his hands. Once the hands had changed again, he placed his right hand to the trunk and where he was touching exploded sending splinters everywhere. "If I had touched you or the ground before, the results would have been worse. The more I used to bigger the blast."

"Not to shabby kid. You got a name for it?"

"Of course, it's Meian. But as a use, I still deciding, the darkness will come in handy for slipping in and out of places, but the light tends to give me away. Until I have enough control I have to keep them balanced, or they'll mix and blow up."

"Alright brat, let's get to training then. Since you know those other two, I won't have to explain too much." She stuck two kunai into the ground. "This time it's to your fingers and you trying not to fall on to the kunai. This is what you're trying for." She put the tip of her index fingers on the point of the kunai and did a handstand… eh… finger stand. After a minute she got off and showed him the fingers, they weren't cut. "Your turn."

'Damn, she really is insane!' Not wanting to get on her bad side, he did like he was told, but sliced his fingers every time. Luckily for him, they healed almost instantly, if you could call that lucky. Every time the knives would cut his fingers open again and a new wave of pain would follow. "You're evil, you know that?"

"Quit complaining, it won't make it any easier."

-------------------------

It was getting dark by the time Naruto managed to get it right, but he still had trouble when he was distracted. "That was pretty good for the first day. Come on, I'll get you something to eat." They started for a dango place Anko like when she remembered something for their last encounter. "Hey brat, did I live up to the reputation you heard about me?"

"You expect anything less Hebi-hime? You're more sadistic than most demons, you're completely insane, and you're hotter than hell."

"Why thank you kid, I didn't know you were a flatterer. Here we are, the best dango in the village."

"Anko, they won't let me in here. Only Ichiraku's Ramen Bar will, the others say I'm bad for business."

"That's what they say about me, but I don't give them a choice."

"Sorry Anko, but I can't." Without giving her a chance to argue, he disappeared into flames.

'Looks like I'm going to have to beat that hiding shit out of him.' She smirked and went through the door.

----------------------------

Every day after class, Naruto would meet Anko and work on his control, and after a while, he told her that he knew about Kyuubi. By the time the Genin Exam came around, she had put him through hell. She taught him every exercise she knew, most involved lots of pain, and his control was now almost equal to hers.

"Alright brat, you're exam's tomorrow and this is our last training session. Let's see if it paid off."

Naruto held out his left hand and a ball of pure darkness formed. He watched it and when he was sure that nothing was going to happen, he made it bigger and wrapped him self in the energy. He could see like he normally would, but when he looked into the water, he saw that everything was blanketed in darkness, even his eyes.

"I'd say it did." He walked towards a tree, and instead of going up it, he went through it and once on the other side, he released the chakra. "Thanks Hebi-hime, you have no idea how much help you've been."

"Then as a thank you, you're paying for dinner."

"You know I can't go there. I have a hard enough time trying to keep from bring attention to myself as it is."

"Sooner or later you're going to have to face them. Once you become a genin, you'll be doing boring D-rank missions, where you work for the villagers. You're coming to dinner even if I have to drag your broken body."

"You have to be the most infuriating person I've ever met! Fine, I'll go, but I going to go home to change first."

"If you're not there in ten minutes, I'm going to hunt your ass down!"

'Like you could find me.' "Whatever." To her it looked like he burst into flames. She knew she had finally gotten under his skin and she smirked.


	5. Chapter 5

When he arrived, Anko waved him over to the table where she and another woman sat. The first thing Naruto noticed was that this other woman had red eyes. Anko introduced them. "Kurenai, this is the brat that Iruka's always talking about. Kid, this is my friend Kurenai, she's been chosen to lead one of the genin teams this year."

"So you're the famous Naruto, taking both places at top of the class is something to be proud of, but from what Iruka said it happened out of the blue."

"I didn't try before that point. During the trip with the old man to Suna, I met someone there and I promised him that I wouldn't slack off anymore, so when we met each other again we could have one hell of a match."

"I see Anko's already been rubbing off on you."

"Hey, he was like that before I started training him!"

"She right, I just picked it up here and there." Naruto got up and took out his wallet. He placed some money on the table and put the wallet back. "It was nice meeting you Kurenai, see ya around Hebi-hime." He turned around and left.

Anko grabbed him in the street. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home. You said I had to show up, I did. You said I had to pay, I did. But you never said I had to stay."

"You can't keep running away from them kid."

"I only have two purposes in life at the moment, and they are more important than how these people here see me."

"If you're so sure of that, why do you run from them?"

"I don't, I run from you. I can't seem to keep it up around you."

"Keep what up?"

"My mask, I don't know why, but when I'm around you it starts to slip. I can't afford for them to see what lurks behind it."

"What would that be, what they all fear?"

"I'm not Kyuubi! It is pain, suffering, everything I've tried so hard to pretend that I don't feel." Tears started rolling down his cheeks.

"Kid, deal with them instead of covering them up."

"Like you're in any position to lecture me Anko, you do the same thing."

"Look brat, just come back inside and have a meal with us. After that you won't have to deal with me, but maybe Kurenai if she's your instructor."

"Alright." He dried his eyes and followed her back in. 'I may even consider dropping the mask completely depending on how things go.'

When they got back to the table two men had joined Kurenai, one was smoking and the other was getting glares from her while reading an orange book. Anko groaned when she saw them. "Why are you two here?"

"We heard that you were taking out Iruka's favorite student and wanted to meet him."

"He doesn't look so special." Naruto glared at the man reading the book.

"Now, now Kakashi, don't assume anything about him until you see him fight."

"Naruto, this bastard reading that damn filth is Kakashi Hatake and the smoker is Asuma Sarutobi."

"I think I heard the old man talking about you Asuma. And I defiantly heard of you Kakashi. Always late, perverted, student of Yondaime, and strangest of all, is that you have the Sharingan behind you headband though you not a Uchiha."

"I'm surprised you have such a detailed report on me."

"You wouldn't stand a chance against me even with the Sharingan."

"If you say so."

"I can prove it. I bet you that I could take your book from your pocket without you knowing."

"You're on kid." The group all head outside with their orders and the other three sat down to watch.

"No help from the audience now." 'This is going to be quick.' "Kakashi, you going to use your eye or not?"

"Why waste it on someone like you?"

"Then this will be over even faster." Naruto was surrounded by flames and disappeared.

"Shunshin, that is interesting, but why are you running?"

"Why would I run? I've already won." Kakashi turns around to see Naruto holding the book. He quickly checks his pockets to make sure it's his.

"How the hell did you do that?" Naruto handed the book back.

"You should ask them, they saw it all." He walked over to the table and started eating.

"Don't feel bad Kakashi, he's been able to suppress his chakra to that point since I first met him. He did the same thing to me except for reaching through me. Naruto show him your little trick on something else."

He stood up and went to the end of the table. "Watch closely." His left arm turned to the darkest black and he put it through the tabletop. He released only enough energy to tap on the underside before pulling it out again. "That's only half of the ability, the other half is explosive which is why I've been training with Anko on chakra control."

Kakashi paled. 'He could have blown me to bits.'

Naruto noticed and laughed. "Don't worry Kakashi, I have control over it now and it easily seen if I use the other half." Naruto's right hand starts to light up the surrounding area. "See, if I had used this you would have seen it first. Not that you could have done anything at that point, but you would have noticed."

Kakashi looked frustrated and left. Naruto moved over to Anko. "I'm glad you got me to stay Hebi-hime. That was fun, I just hope he's not my instructor."

The three jonin laughed. "Don't worry, there's no way in hell the my father would allow that."

"Would that make Konohamaru your son?"

"No, he's my nephew. I didn't know you two had met."

"Yeah, he's always trying to 'ambush' the old man when I go to see him."

Asuma smiled. "That kid's an odd one, but he's got determination."

"Hey Naruto, if you don't mind me asking, why do you call Anko Hebi-hime?"

"I like to know myself. So how about it kid?"

"I called her that the first time we met and I could tell she was doing everything in her power not to blush."

"I remember that, it was right after you tore my coat in that match."

"You fought him and got hit at least once? You must be getting rusty Anko."

"He's faster than he looks. Besides he only got me once."

"That's because you summoned that damn snake and even after I got away from it you left."

"Anko what in the world were you thinking summoning against a child?"

"I more interested in how he escaped it."

"The snake wrapped me up, and I dislocated my shoulder to slip out enough to stab it in the head. I put it back into place right away and could use it again after ten minutes or so."

"He's the most reckless fighter I've ever met. He rushes thing without regard for his safety."

"I heal fast and I can live through most wounds. Besides, every hit I take is one more that my teammates don't have to. Hell, I hate Sasuke, but if I'm on his team, I won't just let him be killed."

"At least you know the importance of teammates, even if you do miss the point of team work."

"You have to take out the weakest enemies first so you can over power the strongest with superior numbers. But to do so, you have to keep the strongest person busy so he can't interfere. It will take more than most people here could do to kill me, Anko's tried with that damn torture she calls training. Anyway, I'm gonna get going, I have the exam tomorrow and I can't be late. It was nice meeting you Asuma and Kurenai, though I said that before. Hebi-hime, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to train with you again sometime." He used Shunshin and was gone.

"So that's the holder of Kyuubi, a bit overconfident isn't he?"

"Actually Asuma, he wasn't. You know the exercise where you balance on two kunai using your finger tips?" They both nodded. "I had him do that first and one of the times he fell onto one. It stabbed into his lung, but by the time I got over to him, he was fine. The hole in the clothes was there and so was the blood, but no wound."

"Does the Hokage know about this?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course he knows. I couldn't keep something like that from him."

"It will be interesting to see what happens to him after tomorrow."

---------------------------

The exam was simple, weapons, a tournament of sorts, and the basic jutsu. The weapons was using ten shuriken and five kunai and throwing them at a target, the tournament was only taijutsu and they were scored on their performance. Naruto and everyone else was surprised that Shikamaru was able to get to the semi-finals.

'He's a strategist, now that's a surprise. He's lazy in body, but his brain works hard. I'll have to rethink my opinion of my classmates.'

The last was the jutsu test and they went by name. Naruto sat and watched as some came back with leaf headbands while others didn't. Among those to get them were Sakura, Shino, Hinata, Choji, and Shikamaru. It was Sasuke's turn now and Naruto had no doubt that he would get one.

Sure enough, Sasuke came back with one in his hands. "Naruto Uzumaki, it's your turn." He stood up and walked quietly to the examination room. "You need to do a perfect henge and make at least three perfect Bunshin to pass."

Naruto transformed into Asuma, complete with a cigarette in his mouth. "Satisfied?"

"Yes, now the Bunshin."

Naruto dispelled the henge and quickly ran through the seals. There was a loud pop and eight clones stood there along with him. "Hey sensei, want to see something cool? Throw a weapon at a clone."

Iruka started to protest but the assistant teacher Mizuki threw a shuriken, hitting it in the shoulder. To their surprise it didn't disappear. "You hit the real one!"

"No he didn't." Naruto dismissed the clones and the shuriken hit the floor. "My clone can take more damage than normal ones can. Almost as much as I can."

"Well done Naruto, come get your headband and return to the classroom." Naruto grabbed the metal plate, not one of the cloth bands.

He entered the classroom and went back to his seat while the last student went to be tested. She came back with a headband soon after. Iruka and Mizuki were with her. "Congratulations to those who passed. To those that didn't, you have the next year to improve where needed. Those who passed, are to be here at eight o'clock tomorrow morning to meet your jonin instructors. The only thing left to do is announce the number one shinobi and kunoichi of this year."

"The number one shinobi is Naruto Uzumaki." There was dead silence. "The number one kunoichi is Sakura Haruno." Some clapped and said good job. "That's all, you're dismissed." The students started to leave, but Naruto didn't move.

'**WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE A REST OF THE HEADBAND KIT.'**

'I didn't like the colors. I have enough black, the red didn't match, and blue won't look good.'

'AND YOU SAID YOU'RE FEMALE CLASSMATES WORRIED ABOUT THEIR LOOKS.'

'I said they worry too much about them.'

'KIT, HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THERE IS ONE PERSON LESS THAN ENOUGH FOR ALL THE TEAMS TO BE THREE MAN CELLS?'

Naruto quickly scanned the crowd. 'You're right. They might place four people on two teams, or a two man team.'

'Naruto, how did you do?'

'I passed, how about you?'

'I did as well.'

'Sorry I haven't been able to talk to you very often, I've been busy lately.'

'It's all right Naruto, I have been as well. Shukaku has been helping me gain more control over the sand.'

'I'm surprised you could get any better, from what I remember, you could make perfect sculptures. So much for the glass sculpting huh.'

'Just because we're ninja now doesn't mean we'll be good enough to make a living from it.'

'That's true. I have some things that I need to pick up, but I'll talk to you later tonight Gaara.'

'All right Naruto, by the way the Chunin Exam is being held in Konoha in a few months. I'll do my best to be there.'

'So will I. Even if I'm not, I promised to take you to Ichiraku's.'

'That you did, I look forward to it.'

Naruto went to the Hokage tower and when he made it to Sandaime's office, the three he met the night before, and several other jonin walked out. He waited till they passed and went inside.

"Good afternoon Naruto, what can I do for you?"

"I wanted to ask if you could tell me where a specialized weapons shop is. I want to get two swords made."

"Why not just buy two swords?"

"I heard that some people can infuse chakra into the blades and I wanted to put the different parts of Meian into each blade."

"Well there's only one that I know of, they don't specify on any one weapon. They sell everything, from kunai to swords and even training weights. It's not far from here and you'll know it when you see it. Here, this is technically you're last payment since you're a genin now, but I also give you a little extra as a graduation present."

"Thanks old man, for everything. You have no idea how much you've done for me."

"You welcome Naruto. Now you should get going, those swords won't buy themselves." The old man smiled and Naruto left.

-----------------------------

Sandaime was right, as soon as he saw the sign, he knew that he was there. It had two swords in an X with a hammer above them and a kunai below. Inside he found that the shelves were packed and found a girl about his age with her hair in buns behind the counter. He walked up to the counter.

"Hi there, you need help with something?"

"I was hoping to get a couple of swords specially made."

"That's my dad's thing, he should be back soon. You need anything else?"

"Do you carry any kenjutsu scrolls?"

"A couple, they should be over there by rack of swords. While you there you should see what kind of swords you want."

"Thank you, I think I will."

"No problem, I yell when my dad gets back." He smiled and walked over to the swords.

Naruto picked up one of the scrolls. 'These are based on the type of sword, so I have pick that first.' He moved over to see the whole rack. Two of them jumped out at him, one was a long katana, and the other was the large zanbato. He quickly found the scrolls for them and started looking around while he waited.

He found a pair of fingerless gloves with metal plates over the back of the hand. He smiled and picked them up. He heard the girl and went back to the counter. A man, presumably her father stood there. "So what kind of swords would you like?"

"I would like a zanbato and a long katana both infused with chakra."

"Alright, but I'll need you to follow me. You can leave everything else here at the counter." Naruto nodded and did what he was told. He was led into a forge and workshop outside the shop. "These are the zanbato blades to choose from and the katana blade isn't anything fancy. So pick the one you like and we'll get started."

He walked over to examine the different blade types and choosing one with four and a half foot blade and a half-foot handle, the blade slanting into the point. **(Like Cloud's sword from FFVII.)** He picked it up with only his left hand. "I'll go with this one."

The shop owner was astounded by the young man's strength, but quickly recovered. "Is there anything you would like engraved into it?"

"I would like the name."

"Then it will wait until it's done so there's a appropriate name for its finished product." The man started marking the ground with kanji in a circle. "There, now stab the blade into the ground slightly." Naruto drove a fourth of the blade into the center of the circle. "Good, now channel chakra into it and keep a hold of it."

Naruto griped the handle with his left hand and push the darkness chakra into the blade. As soon as he did the kanji surrounding him started to glow and the circle closed in on him. It went right beneath him and continued toward the blade, when it touched the blade shot out of the ground, but Naruto kept a tight grip on it. The new blade was a glossy pitch black, but didn't reflect light. "What a magnificent blade, what is the name?"

Naruto stared at the sword in his hand. "Shin'en." He handed it to the man who engraved the name just above the handle and set it aside. He remarked the kanji and they repeated the process with the katana.

It had a six feet long blade with a half-foot handle and glowed as bright as the full moon when they were done. "Would you like anything on this one?"

"No thank you, wouldn't want you to be blinded doing so. You make wonderful swords, it's a talent not many people in Konoha have, but I would like you to know the name. It's Gesshoku."

"I'm honored by your compliment. Here is the sheath for Gesshoku, my daughter Tenten will have your other items ready for you." The wooden sheath was stained dark red.

"Thank you." Naruto went back into the shop, carrying Shin'en over his shoulder and Gesshoku in his other hand. He found that Sandaime had almost doubled the money he was suppose to receive and was grateful because otherwise he wouldn't have had any money to eat on. He paid for the items and used Shunshin to get to his apartment without incident.


	6. Chapter 6

Once he was home, Naruto made three clones, two to learn from the kenjutsu scrolls, and one attach two metal lopes to the back of his vest to hold Shin'en and attach the Leaf headband to the back just under the collar. While they were doing that, he was working on the gloves he bought. **'WHAT DO YOU PLAN ON DOING KIT?'**

'I'm going to etch the kanji for light and darkness onto the metal pieces of these gloves. This metal is stronger than the regular stuff used for the headbands, so in order to do it, I'll have to heat the metal a bit.' Using Kyuubi's chakra like he had to turn the sand to glass, he heated the metal and using some makeshift tools, he made the symbols on the corresponding glove. 'Not bad for my first time trying it.'

'**NOT BAD AT ALL KIT, YOU'RE A JACK OF ALL TRADES.'**

'Thanks, but you're being generous, I can only think of four things and one I would need Gaara's help for. Well now that this is done, I'm gonna go down to Ichiraku's.'

'I TOLD YOU BEFORE, IF THAT'S ALL YOU EAT, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO GET STRONGER, YOU NEED HEALTHY FOODS.'

'I know, and I've cut back quite a bit, but I just graduated, I want to celebrate.'

'JUST DON'T GO OVERBOARD KIT.'

'I won't, I'll only have three bowls. Then I'll go into the forest for some light training.' Naruto told the clones what they were supposed to do and left for the ramen stand. "Hey Ayame."

"Haven't seen you in a while Naruto. Dad, Naruto here."

"Good to see ya kid, I was starting to think you forgot about us."

"You know I couldn't do that. I've just been busy training, and it paid off, I graduated today."

"Why aren't you wearing your headband?"

"I'm having it attached to my vest at the moment."

"Congratulations kid. First bowl is on the house."

"Thanks old man. I can only get three bowls of miso. I suppose to go meet someone."

"Oh, so you finally got a girlfriend."

"No, one of the others from class wants to spar with me."

"Here you go Naruto, three miso ramen."

"Thanks Ayame." He breaks apart the chopsticks and starts eating. The three bowls empty quickly and he pays promising to come back soon. He walks into the forest surrounding the village and sits down to talk with Gaara. 'Hey Gaara, you busy?'

'Sorry Naruto, but I can't talk tonight, I'm suppose to get to know my teammates.'

'Don't you know them from class?'

'No, they're older than me, they're my brother and sister.'

'That's not that bad, you get to know more about your family. Tell me how it goes.'

'Alright.'

Naruto stood up to start training when he felt Mizuki's chakra signature moving towards him. 'Why is he so far from the village this late?'

'YOU ARE TOO KIT.'

'Because I don't want to be seen while I train, he shouldn't have that problem.' He felt several other stronger sources starting to move in the village. 'He did something and is trying to leave. We can't let him.' Naruto took off like a bullet, heading straight at Mizuki. When Naruto found him, he was in a clearing with a large scroll on his back. "What have you done Mizuki?"

The sliver haired man turn toward the voice. "Oh this is perfect, I kill you and say that you took the scroll, but I was too late to recover it. The village will see me as a hero."

"You want to bet? All I have to do is raise my chakra enough for them to notice, and the Hokage is probably already watching. He seems very interested in my training."

"Do you know why they hate you? Why they call you demon?"

"To be truthful, yes. I contain Kyuubi no Kitsune, The Nine-tailed Fox, whatever else you call him. It is because of him that I am here, he's saved my ass so many times when I would have died. I've known for a while now, so you won't be able to use the my shock to get away."

"Why would I need to use it to get away when I can easily just kill you?"

"Go ahead and try, but you'll regret it. Especially since the Anbu are closing in on us as we speak. You won't be able to get away and even if you do, you won't get the scroll. But they're the least of your worries, to get away, you have to go through me and that won't be easy by any means." He rushed through hand signs and a line of Narutos stood there.

"You remember my clones, and what it takes to get rid of them. By the time you do, the Anbu will have arrived and you will be arrested for treason, attempted deflection, and the attempted trafficking of village secrets. Most of which are punishable by death, but before that happens you'll be tortured to find out who you were working for."

Mizuki face paled. Three masked ninja dropped from the trees. "Mizuki, hand over the scroll."

Mizuki's face brightened. "Thank goodness you're here, I found him with the scroll and took it. He threatened to kill me."

"We will none of you lies Mizuki, Lord Sandaime was watching the boy when the theft occurred, and witnesses place you at the scene." Mizuki's face paled again and he attempted to run only to be knocked out by one of Naruto's clones.

"What an idiot, he was so focus on me that he didn't see three clones go into the forest." He dismissed the clones and the three 'Anbu' disappeared as well. He took the scroll and placed it on his back while he dragged Mizuki by the leg back towards the village.

On the outskirts of the buildings, a real Anbu member stopped him. "What happened?"

"I found this bastard trying to leave the village with this large scroll. I may not know what it is, but I'm not stupid enough to believe that it's a message."

"Follow me to the Hokage's office, he'll want hear this from you." Naruto nodded and followed, still dragging Mizuki.

------------------------------

They enter the office to find a worried Sandaime smoking his pipe. "Lord Sandaime, we've found the scroll."

"That is good news. Please send word to the others." The Anbu woman nodded and left in a puff of smoke. "Naruto, why do you have the scroll?"

"I figured you be watching, oh well, I found Mizuki in the forest heading towards the wall, he had this scroll. You know I can sense chakra even at a distance, and if two-dozen Anbu start running around then something's happening. I confronted him and knocked him out, but not before he told me about Kyuubi."

The old man's mouth fell open, dropping his pipe. "I'm sorry Naruto, you shouldn't have found out this way."

"He's gonna tell them when he wakes up anyway, so I'm gonna tell you the truth. I already knew, even before you took me to Suna. He contacted me and told me everything, even why he attacked. But before we start with that let's finish this first." He took the scroll and laid it on the desk.

"Naruto, do you know why this scroll is so important?" Naruto shook his head. "It contains the forbidden jutsu of the Leaf village. In the wrong hands, this could destroy us or any other village that opposes the wielder."

"Then why not destroy it? If they're forbidden, then we're not using them. Why leave any record they exist for others to find?"

"As in the last war, desperate times call for desperate measures. Several of our ninja had to learn from this scroll to turn the tide of the war."

Naruto shrugged. "That makes sense, but you should be more careful where you put it, if Mizuki could get it, either the security wasn't good enough, what people there are watching it were bribed, or they fell for a genjutsu. The size is a problem as it easily identifies it."

"We're already investigating how he managed to remove the scroll, now why did Kyuubi attack?"

"A man killed his human mate, and he followed the man's scent here. I know that he was here at some point, because you trained him. Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin."

"But he deflected before the attack!"

"He came within at least thirty feet a few days before the attack. I'm going to kill the bastard for what he took from us." Sandaime looked confused. "Old man, I need for you to understand, so what I tell you can't go beyond this room."

"Just a moment." Sandaime uses several hand signs and his chakra expands to cover every wall. "There, now no one can hear from outside this room."

"Thanks. He told me who my parents are. My mother's name was Hinote, she was killed three weeks after my birthday, which is actually September 14."

"How does Kyuubi know this?"

"I was getting there, Kyuubi knew my mother because he's my father. He's shown me memories of them. Orochimaru took my mother from me and he will pay for that. I'm only a half demon, but I do get some demonic traits, my appetite for example. The technique I was working on, Meian, is my demonic power, Kyuubi's is fire."

"So you lied to me the day I asked you about it?"

"No I didn't, I said there was I voice in my head that told me to get rid of it. It was true, Kyuubi can speak with me in my head. The only thing I lied about was saying it was my instincts. I'm sorry I did that, but I wasn't sure how you'd react to me being part demon."

"But you are now?"

"No, but after everything you've done for me, the least I can do is be honest with you."

"It's late, you should head home, you have a long day tomorrow."

"Alright." He started to leave, but stopped at the door. "I really am sorry about keeping this from you." As he left he heard a popping sound followed by the old man talking and then another pop.

-----------------------------

Naruto sat at the back of the classroom, while all the others talked amongst themselves. 'Do you think he'll trust me now?'

'HE IS AN UNDERSTANDING HUMAN, AND HE CARES ABOUT YOU, IT WOULD SURPRISE ME IF HE DIDN'T. ON TOP OF THAT, YOU WERE COMPLETELY HONEST WITH HIM, SOMETHING THAT NO OTHER HUMAN IN THIS VILLAGE CAN SAY.'

'Still, he seemed pretty hurt that I kept it for him for so long.'

'HE WILL COME TO REALIZE THAT YOU DID IT FOR THE SAME REASONS HE KEPT THE TRUTH FROM YOU.'

'I hope so.'

Iruka appeared in a puff of smoke. "Quiet down, I going to announce the teams. I'm only going to say them once, so pay attention! The teams are as follows:"

Team One: Ranpu Kagirinai, Naraku Bun'ya, and Sakura Haruno. Your sensei is Hayate Gekko.

Team Three: Yami Museigen, Nijuu Shuurai, and Oozora Bun'ya. Your sensei is Yugao Uzuki.

Team Six: Heru Tama, Awai Ichijin, and Akki Kaimetsu. Your sensei is Ibiki Morino. 'Poor bastards.'

Team Seven: Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake. 'I can't believe they were put together. Oh well, they'll be here awhile.'

Team Eight: Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi.

Team Ten: Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi.

Teams Two, Four, Five and Nine are carryovers from previous years. Your sensei's will arrive shortly to get you."

'Asuma was wrong, the old man really would allow it, and what's worse is I'm on a same team as that cold hearted bastard Sasuke.' He looked around and smiled. 'All his fangirls seem pretty pissed that they're not on his team, maybe now they'll put some effort into being kunoichi.' There was a popping sound and another chunin appeared in the classroom next to Iruka. He whispered something into Iruka's ear, whose eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid so, by orders of Lord Sandaime."

"Alright, you're dismissed." The other man bowed and left the same way he came. Naruto felt a familiar chakra signature moving towards the academy at reckless speeds.

'Oh shit, please no.'

"There's been a change, Team Seven isn't going to be exist."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Calm down Sasuke and let me finish. You are to still be trained by Kakashi Hatake, but Naruto, you new sensei will be…"

"I already know, she's on her way, in fact I would move if I were you." He nodded towards the outside wall just before it exploded. Standing in the dust was Anko. Naruto shook his head. 'I have to be careful what I ask for.'

"Come on brat, we don't have all day."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. More torture with Anko, what did I do to deserve this?"

Iruka shook his head. 'I really hope the Hokage knows what he's doing.' One by one the jonin came to pick up their teams, until only Sasuke remained. "Sasuke, you should go get something to eat, Kakashi's known for being extraordinarily late. I'll point him in your direction if he gets here before you come back." 'Not likely.' Sasuke nods and exits the room.

-------------------------

"So Hebi-hime, what did I do to get you as a instructor?"

"Stop with that, I'm your sensei and you should give me respect."

"You want me to call you sensei?"

"No, just call me Anko like everyone else."

"Fine, I will when you tell me."

"After your confession last night, I got summoned to the old man's office. He wanted to know how much you told me."

"And you told him."

"Of course I did, I won't lie to a direct question from the Hokage."

"I didn't expect you to. Did he tell you the other part?"

"What other part, after I told him, he said I'd be training you and that I couldn't get out of it."

"Then I'll tell you later when there aren't unwanted ears around."

"Fair enough, but before we do anything, the old man wants to speak with us about the mission we'll be on."

"Why are we walking? We could get there faster if we used Shunshin."

"Just because you want things to be easy, doesn't mean they will be. Now quit you yakking and get a move on brat!"

----------------------------

When they got to the Hokage's office, they were ushered in, Naruto gaze dropped to the floor as they walked in. "Naruto, Anko, now the three of us all know that Naruto is far beyond the other Genin, and would be held back if he were placed on a team with them. That is the reason behind this arrangement, and also why I have decided that you'll be taking on C-ranks where as the others will be doing D-rank missions."

"Are you sure that wise, he did just get out of the academy."

"I fine with it, I wouldn't want a D-rank mission anyway, meaning less jobs for petty villagers isn't what shinobi should be doing."

"I won't be having you go on any missions just yet anyway, I want you to train him first so he can handle himself in difficult situations that you might run into. That's all, dismissed."

Anko turned around to leave, but Naruto stood still. "Old man, I need to know, can you forgive me for keeping it from you?"

"There's nothing to forgive, I probably would have done the same in your position as well. I hope that in the future you won't be concerned about telling me things."

Naruto smiled. "You don't have to worry about that, I'm done with secrets. By the way, I have to thank you for the 'little' extra you gave me. Gesshoku and Shin'en will help a lot once I'm able to use them as they're meant to be instead of like clubs. That shop owner is a kind man and so is his daughter, I think he said her name was Tenten or something."

"Yes, she graduated a year before you, she a weapons expert already at her age."

"Maybe I should ask her for some help training with them."

"You could ask Hayate Gekko too, he's the best swordsman in Konoha."

"Alright brat, we've wasted enough of his time, let's go."

"Fine, see ya later old man." When they were back on the streets, Anko led them back to the same dango restaurant. They ordered and sat outside. "Why are we here, I thought we were going to go train."

"We are, but we might as well get something to eat first. Now listen, the other genin are only going to meet their senseis today, and tomorrow they'll be taking a test to see if they have what in takes to be genin."

"So the first exam was to weed out the hopeless?"

"That's right, you and probably Sasuke won't be put through this because you are the two highest in class and we know you can beat a chunin at least."

"Mizuki had some uses." Anko smiled. "So what about the Chunin Exam, I was under the impression that you had to be on a three man team."

"Normally yes, but because you and Sasuke were suppose to be on the same team, you'll probably be participating with him and maybe someone from another team if something happens to their teammates."

"So I'll be working on a team that has no idea how the others fight or how to work well with each other?"

"Pretty much."

"So where are we going to train?"

"The Forest of Death, where else."

"Good, then I can tell you there, but before that, I'm gonna go home and grab a few things. Try not to eat it all before I get back, okay?"

"I can't promise you anything." Naruto smiled and burst into flames. When he came back five minutes later, the plate was empty and twenty dango sticks were stuck into the tree. "You eat this stuff faster than I can ramen and that should be humanly impossible."

Anko looked him up and down, he had the zanbato across his back with the handle on the left side, and a long katana stuck through his sash also on the left side. "So those are the two you were talking about?"

He pulled out the katana. "This is Gesshoku."

"I can see why, are you putting chakra into it to make it glow?"

He shook his head and sheathed it before pull out the zanbato. "This is Shin'en obviously. It only reflects light from Gesshoku. I can't figure out why, but I think it's because they're made the same chakra source."

"Come on, time to start training, we're wasting time."

"Alright, let's go." 'I don't think I could eat dango again anyways.'

----------------------------------

Ranpu- Light, Kagirinai- Unlimited 

**Naraku- Hell, Bun'ya- Realm**

**Oozora- Heaven, Bun'ya- Realm (Their twins.)**

**Yami- Darkness, Museigen- Limitless**

**Nijuu- Double, Shuurai- Lighting strike**

**Heru- Hell, Tama- Spirit**

**Awai- Light, Ichijin- Gust of Wind**

**Akki- Demon Kaimetsu- Annihilation**


	7. Chapter 7

Once they were in the Forest of Death, they went almost half the distance to the tower before the stopped and when Anko said that this was where they would be training, Naruto created two clones to work on learning from the kenjutsu scrolls. "Before we start, there are some things I think you should know. First of all, this is the more important of the two, I found out that my mother's name was Hinote, and that my father is Kyuubi, I've seen his memories of them together. Second is that Meian isn't a jutsu, it's my demonic chakra's affinity. I'm not a full demon, but a half demon. My mother was human and the clones I use are her creation." He sighed. "You remember what I said two nights ago outside that dango place?"

"What part, about the mask or your purposes in life?"

"I was referring to the latter, but the mask is something to discuss too. While I won't say anything about the other purpose, there is a man that I must kill. He killed my mother and tricked Kyuubi into attacking this village. You know him rather well and it is because of that, that I'm even saying this. It's because I don't know whether you respect this man or hate him."

"Just spit it out brat, who is he?"

"Orochimaru, the reason I'm unsure is because you still use the jutsu he taught you, either way I'm going to kill him."

"His ass is mine brat, you got that! I'll kill him and no one else!"

"I'm sorry to say, but at this point, neither of us have a chance to win against him. Even together, we wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. You both control snakes, but who would they listen to if you used them against him?" Her hand went up to her left shoulder and he placed his on top of hers. "Anko, he will pay, I swear it to you. Because of him I have no memories of my mother that are my own and my father is sealed inside of me. Whatever he did to you, obviously he made a mistake letting you live, because without you, I wouldn't have control over my chakra and no one to help me become stronger."

Anko let down her mask, if only briefly, and gave him a genuine smile. "You know, I used to know someone named Hinote, could you describe your mother?"

"Better, I can henge into her." There was a puff of smoke and when it cleared, there was a five foot eight, thin woman with almost golden hair and deep cerulean eyes. Anko's eyes widened and she gasped. He dropped the henge his were filled with sadness. "You knew her."

"She resembles someone I knew, what else do you know of her?"

"She had determination, was unafraid to face Kyuubi in his fox form, couldn't use normal Bunshin, hence the creation of this one, she said that she didn't have a family, and according to him, she had a way of making people change their minds about her."

"That sounds like her. She was my cousin, I only have a few memories of her because when I was about five, she was disowned by the family. The stupid bastards were all shinobi and when they learned she couldn't use bunshin, they wanted nothing to do with her. They thought she would disgrace their names."

"So she was from this village, why aren't there other Mitarashis then?"

"They were all killed during the Shinobi Wars. **(I don't know what they're really called.) **I had to take care of myself from the age of six to the time Orochimaru took me on as his apprentice."

Naruto looked down. "Sorry."

"Don't be, they were all assholes. Your mother was the only one I could stand being around. Even after the clan gave her the boot, I spent more time with her than with my own parents. Then she just disappeared without a word, I never knew why she left."

"He doesn't either, she never talked about her past with him."

"You've seen all his memories of her?"

"Not all, but most of the ones that I haven't aren't something anyone wants to see their parents doing."

He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment and she laughed. "I'm not really sure what to do with you kid, you've already proven able to keep up with me in a fight, you've got more chakra than anyone should be able to handle, and I've already taught you all the chakra control techniques I know. You could use a wider arsenal of jutsu, but most of the ones I know use snakes."

"You don't have to stay, I can train by myself for today while you decide what to do."

"Yeah right, like I'm going to leave my only student to train alone. Knowing you, you'll do something reckless and nearly kill yourself."

"There is a chance, I'm going to try for the next ability of Meian. But with all the control you taught me to get, it's not likely."

"In that case, I'm not going anywhere. I want to see what else you're capable of."

"Alright, but I have to talk with dad for a second to find out how. Just to warn you, it might look like I passed out, so don't worry if I fall over." She nodded and they both sat down. Naruto closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he was back in the sewers of his mind. 'At least it's a bit brighter in here, it's a start.' He made his way to Kyuubi cell, where his father waited in his human form. "You heard all that right?" Kyuubi nodded, trying to stifle a laugh. "What's so funny?"

"**You called your relative attractive."**

"I didn't know that at the time, and even though she is, it's the truth. So how do I get the other abilities of Meian?"

"I don't know kit, I know the training for the elements, but Meian is a mystery to me."

"So I'm on my own."

"Sorry kit, most of the kits that are born with Meian die from the first attempt. As far as I know, only one has survived long enough to have children."

"Are they still alive?"

"I believe he is, but I don't know for sure."

"How can I find him, if he's still alive, he could help me learn to use it."

"I have a way to bring him to you, but I doubt he'll help. He was against me and your mother being together."

"Why would he care who you choose to be with?"

"There are two reasons. First is that I was head of the Kitsune Demon clan, and he, along with others, saw it as a betrayal to the clan. Second, he's my father."

"He didn't go for mom's charming huh? Oh well, it's still the best opinion. How to I bring him here?"

Kyuubi snapped his finger and a scroll landed in his hand. He tossed it to Naruto. **"That is the summoning contract for foxes. Since I was the head, I was also the boss summon, but after my 'death', he was the one with the highest number of tails, so he will be. Sign it in blood and ask Anko to show you the hand signs. Only the few humans that I have trusted have signed this."**

Naruto unrolled the scroll to see only two names, one was his mother, and the other read Madara Uchiha. He looked up at Kyuubi. "Madara Uchiha?"

"Founder of the Uchiha clan and the first human to gain my trust and respect. He was also one of the founders of Konoha, along with his two friends, the First and Second Hokages." 

"You got a lot of connection to Konoha for trying to destroy it." He bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood and signed his name. "Done."

"**Good, roll it back up and hand it to me, that will finish the contract." **Naruto had already rolled it and went to the bars. He handed it back and it disappeared. **"Now go back outside and ask Anko how to summon."**

"Before that, what's his name?"

"Kuragami."

"Is that just a coincidence?"

"No, kitsune can mate after one year of life and aren't named until that point, so like your swords, they are given a proper name."

"So Kyuubi isn't your name but a title?"

"You're catching on pretty quick. I would tell you my true name, but it has been millennia since I used it and am unable to recall it." Naruto smiled and made his way out of his mind.

---------------------------

Anko sat against a tree truck, looking up into the branches. She wasn't sure how long they had been there, but would guess about an hour. She looked over to see Naruto stirring. "That was quick, so what do you have to do?"

"He doesn't know, but he told me someone who does and how to bring him here."

"Really, how are you gonna pull that off?"

"I need you to teach me to summon, just the hand signs and anything else need after signing the contract."

"Alright, but it won't help, because you don't have a contract."

"I already signed it." Using the mental link, he told the clones to come back. They stood up and Anko showed him the hand sign, which he mirrored. Once he knew them all, he did them over and over again increasing the speed each time, until his hands were like blurs.

"Damn kid, if the rest of you could move that fast, you wouldn't need Shunshin on the battle field. There's one more thing that you have to do, before making the hand signs, you have to have some of your blood on your hand, and afterwards you have to place that hand against a surface, like a tree or the ground."

"Thanks Anko, it's a good thing that you did stay, my training wouldn't have gone far without you." The clones arrived and gave him back the two swords before disappearing. "Time to meet the old man." He moved away from Anko and bit his thumb. He wiped the blood across his palm and started making the hand signs. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he slammed his hand to the ground.

A large cloud of smoke surrounded them and when it cleared, a large, light brown, eight-tailed fox stood there, tails thrashing about. 'Aori?'

"Excuse, are you Aori?"

"I AM. HOW DID YOU SUMMON ME HUMAN?"

"Kyuubi had me sign the summoning contract."

"MY BROTHER DIED TWELVE YEARS AGO, YOU WOULD BARELY BE ALIVE, IF YOU WERE."

"That's not exactly true, he's not dead, he was sealed."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS?!"

"He's sealed in me, but that's not why he had me sign it. Please, will you transform into your human form so we may speak without drawing attention?" Aori growled, but she began to grow smaller until a woman no taller than Anko, with curly brown hair, wearing same color dress, stood before him. Her eyes were the same red color as Kyuubi's and she also had three bold whisker marks on each cheek. "Thank you, this village still has a hatred toward kitsunes."

"Tell me why he gave you such a gift."

"He's my father, and I need training in my demonic affinity."

"If he really is sealed in you then he can help you, he knows how to train all the elements."

"I don't have an element, I have Meian and he said he knew of only one who might still be alive."

"Show me." Naruto held out both of his hands and created a ball in each hand. "You speak the truth, I'm honored to meet my brother son."

"And I you." He bowed to her. "I'm sorry to disturb you Aori, but I was trying to summon your father Kuragami. My father said that he would be the boss summon."

"He was, until I surpassed him. He is a seven-tail, our laws say that the strongest leads the clan. Summoning your way is an imprecise art, I can bring him here if you like."

"I would be very grateful if you did." She snapped her fingers and there was another cloud of smoke. There was a black seven-tailed fox standing there.

"Father, come down here. There is someone you need to meet." Just like Aori, he transformed into a human appearance.

He had black hair and wore a black kimono and pants. His eyes were yellow and hard, but the whisker marks were the same. "What is it Aori, what so important about this human?" He glared at Naruto, who returned it.

"I thought you would like to met your grandson."

He snorted. "So this is the offspring of my son and his human whore." Kyuubi growled within his cell, but Naruto didn't stop at that. His pupils became slits and the whisker marks became more defined.

Naruto grabbed him by the throat. "Don't you dare speak of my mother like that again or I _will _kill you old man!" He gave one last squeeze before releasing him.

He rubbed his throat. 'So he does have some demon blood in him.' "Kyuubi was a fool, his love for her led to his death."

"He can hear every word through me, and he would love to rip out your throat!"

The male kitsune started to laugh. "So he was sealed within his own son, pathetic. Is that all Aori?"

"No, I want you to help him."

"With what? And more importantly why should I?"

'KILL HIM KIT! USE MEIAN AND SHOVE THE LIGHT DOWN HIS THROAT!'

'Trust me, I would do it gladly, but if I do, I lose the only chance to increase my control over it.' "You are the only one who can help me. You've lived long enough to gain seven tails, despite have a rare affinity that has killed the others. I have it too, but have no idea how to gain more abilities than what I already have."

"What could you possibly do with it?"

"I can use them separately, the light is explosive and using the darkness, I can pass through anything."

"And how long have you had excess to this power."

He looked back to Aori. "Less than a year." His features changed back slowly.

"Not bad for a kit. You learned to use them separately faster than I did."

"My name is Naruto."

Kuragami caught sight of Anko. "Who is she?"

"Anko Mitarashi, she related to me on my mother's side. It's because of her that I can use them separate."

"Couldn't do it yourself huh Kit?"

Red swirled in Naruto's eyes. "Listen old man, if you not going to help, say so and stop wasting my time!"

"How dare you speak to me in such a manner brat?!"

Naruto pulled Shin'en and in an instant, the blade was against the male kitsune's neck. "If it were up to my dad, you would be dead already. The only reason I haven't killed you is because if I do, I lose the only source of information on Meian I know of."

"You're just as arrogant as him."

"I'll take that as a complement."

"Enough of this. Father, you will teach him, he is part of the clan regardless of his birth, and the other elders will not like hearing that you refused to help the son of our greatest leader."

"Very well, I'll train him. But I refuse to remain here when he's not training."

"Fine by me. I'll summon you when I train. Thank you Aori." He bowed to her before glaring at Kuragami and he inclined his head. "Old man." Kuragami growled, and they both disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He walked towards Anko.

"That wasn't very bright kid, you pissed off the one whose help you need."

"I won't take that shit from anyone, he also insulted both of my parents."

"You basically threatened to cut off his head!"

"It was better than what Kyuubi told me to do. He wanted me to shove light down his throat." He smiled at her. "So all in all, how do you think our first training session went?"

"And they say I'm insane." She turned around and started walking out of the forest with him following behind her.

"That good huh?"

When they got outside the fence, Anko stopped. "Go home and get some rest. Meet me here tomorrow at eleven."

"Planning on get drunk again Hebi-Hime?"

"Damn right I am! After today I need, no deserve it."

"Then I won't hold my breath when you don't show up on time."


	8. Chapter 8

Two days after Naruto summoned the kitsunes, Anko woke up to knocking on her door and a pounding in her head. She got up and stumbled to the door. Standing there was Kurenai. "Good morning Anko."

"There's nothing good about morning. What is it?"

"Well, since you were suppose to be at the meeting last night and didn't show up, I was elected to tell you the names of the genin that passed to the second test and pass on a message from the Hokage."

"Fine, come on in, the light is really hurting my head." They walked into the living room and Anko flopped down on to the couch while Kurenai sat in a chair. "So, which of the brats passed?"

"Actually, almost all of them. If they all enter the Chunin Exam, there will be four three-man teams. Hayate, Yugao, and Ibiki all did the same test for the whole team, but passed individuals. Surprisingly, one from Ibiki's group passed, a boy by the name of Heru Tama, from Hayate's, both Naraku Bun'ya and Ranpu Kagirinai passed, and from Yugao's only Oozora Bun'ya passed. Both Asuma's and my teams passed the teamwork test."

"So there are twelve rookies this year. Doesn't that Tama kid have some sort of kekkei genkai?"

"That's what I heard, but I don't know what it is, or even if he does have one. So how's it going with Naruto?"

"I have no idea what to teach him. I already taught him the chakra exercises, I don't know anything about kenjutsu, he's got more than enough chakra, he's got his own taijutsu style, I've never seen anything like it before, and the only jutsu I could teach him use snakes and he's already told me he doesn't want to use them."

"What about the fire jutsu you know?"

"He knows them. He learned things that most chunin don't know while he was still in the academy. It like he has that damn Sharingan, he only has to see it used once. Then he uses his clones to learn it faster than normal. He could fight Kakashi without worrying about his jutsu being copied because he use half seals."

"You're on your own with that problem. I have to get going, I have training with my team today, but I'm suppose to tell you that you're expected to be at the next one and that it's up to you when to start taking missions."

--------------------------

Naruto laid in bed staring up at the ceiling. 'Hey dad, will I have tails too?'

'THEY WON'T BE VISABLE, BUT YES. YOU START OFF WITH ONE. BY USING YOUR DEMONIC CHAKRA AND GETTING CONTROL OF YOU ABLITIES, YOU WILL GAIN MORE.'

'So there's no way for me to know how many I have other than being told by you?'

'WHEN YOU DRAW ON MY POWER, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO HANDEL THE SAME NUMBER OF TAILS AS YOU POSSESS. THEY WILL ALSO APPEAR WHEN YOU'RE IN YOUR TRUE DEMON FORM.'

'My true demon form, you mean I can change back and forth like you can?'

'NOT EXACTLY, YOU WON'T BE NEARLY AS BIG AS ME, EVEN IF YOU DO GAIN THE SAME NUMBER OF TAILS. YOU'LL BE A FOX THE SAME HEIGHT AS YOU ARE, AND THE SAME EYES. YOUR FUR COULD BE ANY COLOR, BUT IT WILL PROBABLY BE THE SAME AS YOUR HAIR, THAT HOW IT NORMALLY WORKS.'

'How do I transform?'

'YOU AREN'T ABLE TO YET. IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN LEARN TO DO, THE FIRST TIME IT WILL HAPPEN WHEN YOU NEED IT, BUT AFTER THAT IT WILL BE AT WILL. THE FIRST TIME WILL LAST AS LONG AS THE REASON YOU TRANSFORMED IS STILL THERE.'

'Will I be able to use jutsu while I'm transformed?'

'NOT IF THEY REQUIRE HANDIGNS. THOUGH YOU DON'T KNOW ANY NOW, YOU COULD LEARN SOME THAT DON'T NEED THEM AND YOU COULD STILL USE MEIAN. THERE IS ONE MORE THING KIT, AFTER THE FIRST TRANSFORMATION, IT MAY CANCEL OUT MY GENJUTSU OVER YOU AND THERE MAY BE OTHER CHANGES AS WELL.'

'The loss of the genjutsu could go either way. As for jutsu that don't need hand signs, the old man might know some, but I feel bad about continually going to him.'

'I AGREE KIT, YOU COULD TRADE HIM SOMETHING FOR THE KNOWLEDGE.'

'The only thing I have to trade is the clone jutsu.'

'YOU COULD OFFER TO TAKE KONOHAMARU OFF HIS HANDS FOR A FEW HOURS.'

'I could do that, but I have something else to ask you first. What do you know about shadow clones?'

'THEIR BASICALLY THE SAME AS THE ONES YOU USE, EXCEPT THAT THEY AREN'T NEARLY AS DURIBLE.'

'But the knowledge is passed to the user?'

'YES.'

'Good, he's always complaining about how long the paperwork takes him, that should be a suitable trade.' He threw off his blanket and got dressed before heading to the Hokage's office.

--------------------------

Sandaime was watched the training sessions of the genin teams when Naruto walked in. The old man smiled at him. "Naruto, I doubt that Anko has told you who passed to be genin, because she learned just this morning."

"I was kind of wondering about that. Well I know Sasuke did, but I'd bet Kurenai's and Asuma's teams did too."

"You're right, and four others as well. Heru Tama was the only one to pass from Ibiki Morino's team, he's the head of the interrogation squad, he specializes in torture."

"I bet he and Anko get along well."

Sandaime laughs. "She work right under him. Naraku and Oozora Bun'ya both passed, as did Ranpu Kagirinai."

"Not that it isn't interesting, but I have a proposition for you old man. But I first need to know if you can use shadow clones."

"Yes I can, now what was that about a proposition?"

"I feel bad that every time I asked for your help I couldn't repay you, so I decided that from now on I would do something for you in return for your help."

"That's not necessary."

"I know, but I want to. Now this morning, Kyuubi told me that I at some point I would be able to transform into my demon fox form, but I wouldn't be able to use jutsu because I won't have hands to make seals. I could however use jutsu that don't require hand signs the problem being I don't know any like that, which is why I came to you."

"Naruto, if someone sees you transform, everyone will believe that you really are Kyuubi."

"I know, and I won't use it in front of them if it's avoidable, but if I should have to, I want to be prepared. Like I said, I'm willing to repay you."

"And what would you be willing to do?"

"I know of a way to get your paperwork done faster." Naruto smirked when the old man's eyes widened.

"Well, I only know of one that doesn't use hand signs, but no one will be happy about you learning it."

Naruto snorted. "Why, is it one of Yondaime's jutsu?"

Sandaime's face was serious. "Actually yes. He created it along with Hiraishin, the Rasengan."

"Would you mind if I learned it?"

"No I don't, but I want you to promise me that, like your transformation, you won't use it unless absolutely necessary."

"I promise, unless it could mean the difference between life and death, I won't use it in front of anyone unless you say otherwise."

"Alright, I get the scroll about it."

"Before you do, there's one more thing I need to tell you, the first time I transform happens when I need it. I have no control over when it happens, so it might happen in front of someone."

"With any luck, it will happen during your training, or when you're on a mission when it could help you." He moved over to a small safe behind his desk and opened it. He rummaged through the contents until he pulled out a standard size scroll. "Here it is."

He handed the scroll to Naruto, who tucked it away in a pocket. "Thanks old man, now for what I promised. Use the Shadow clones to do the paperwork, it will get done faster and when they disappear, you get their knowledge, so you'll know what everything was about."

Sandaime's jaw hung open and he hit his head with his hand lightly. "It's so simple, how did I not think of that."

Naruto laughed. "Don't worry about it, you know it now and that's what matters. Thanks again." He left the office to start on Rasengan.

'Kakashi's really not going to be happy.'

-------------------------

Naruto was in the Forest of Death, undergoing Kuragami's grueling training while one clone read the Rasengan scroll and two others work on kenjutsu. At the moment, he was trying to encase another object that he wasn't touching in darkness. He could feel the energy leaving him, but it never made it to the object, in this case, a rock. "It's these clones you made, you mind is split and you can't concentrate properly."

"It's not them, I just got a few thing on my mind that's all." He closed his eyes and concentrated only on the rock and his chakra. The darkness slowly started to cover it, but stopped just short of completely.

"You almost had it that time."

Naruto was smiling. "I thought of something while I was doing that. Is it possible to mix the two without it being volatile?"

"I don't know, I wasn't stupid enough to try."

"I can try without worry because of my clones."

"Don't try it yet, there are still things that I have to teach you, the only things left that I know, is moving in shadows, and a blinding flash."

"Moving through shadows? No offence, but I can do that already."

Kuragami smirked. "Not like this you can't, not yet at least." He walked under a tree, and the dark energy covered his body. "Are you watching closely?" He melted into the shadows of the tree and there was no sign he was ever there. "That is what I'm going to teach you."

Naruto spun around to be face to face with him. "Damn, I take that back, I can't do that."

"Unfortunately, you don't have the energy to continue, so I'll be leaving."

"Thanks for helping me and sorry about our first meeting. She was my mother and I don't take kindly to those insulting people I care about."

"I understand, I probably would have done the same in your position." Kuragami disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto dismissed his clones and gather the items they had, but when he went to pick up his swords, his arms began to tremble. 'Dad, what's happening?'

'You're gaining another tail Kit.'

'Is this going to happen every time?'

"It shouldn't, the first time is a bit ruff because the feeling is unexpected. The next time you know what it feel like and be prepare. For now, just ride it out, it should be over soon.'

Naruto sat down and waited till the feeling was gone before heading home. Just outside of the fence, he ran into Anko. "Hey kid, what do you think about going on a mission? It probably won't be anything to big, most likely a escort, but we would be outside the village for a little while."

"Sounds good, I'm getting a little bored of just training."

"Alright, meet me at the Hokage Tower tomorrow at eleven."

"I'll be there." He headed to his apartment and started the first step of the Rasengan. Holding a water balloon in his right hand, he closed his eyes to recall the information from the scroll. 'Use my chakra to spin the water and make the balloon pop.'

'Remember to use your human chakra, or your right hand will blow it up.'

Naruto started spinning his chakra in his hand, but instead of popping, the balloon was jiggling from side to side. He stopped and it settled down. 'Hmm. That didn't work, so spinning it the opposite way won't. I have to spin the water so it will pop, but there has to be more to it.'

'Kit, you were only sending the water to the sides, try making the water go in every direction.'

'It's worth a try, but to do it, I have to make several swirls.' He started concentrating again and the balloon started to shake violently. He kept increasing the speed of the rotations. There was a splash when the water hit the floor, the remains of the balloon in his hand. 'That wasn't so bad, but I think I'll leave off here for tonight. Talk to you in the morning dad.'

'Good night Kit.'

----------------------------

When Naruto woke up the next morning, he shot out of bed when he looked at the clock. It was five to eleven. He quickly got dressed and disappeared into flames. He arrived just outside the Hokage's office. He felt three chakra signatures inside, one was the Hokage, one was Anko, and the other was familiar, but he couldn't place a name to it. Shrugging, he walked in to hear Anko apologizing to the Hokage.

"I'm sorry sir, he's normally on time."

"As long as he's here before Kakashi."

"That should be easy." They turned to see him there at the door. "Sorry old man, I guess I used more chakra than I thought last night."

"Typical." Naruto turned to see Sasuke lean against the wall. "It seems that we're working together for this one."

"Been enjoying the D-rank mission?"

"It repetitive, I had to catch that damn cat eight times already."

"Old man, thank you so much for not making me do those meaningless tasks." Sasuke looked furious when Kakashi finally arrived. When he saw Naruto, Kakashi placed his hand over his chest pocket and Naruto smirked. "Don't worry, I don't want that book of yours, if I did I would have kept it."

"That's enough, for this mission, you'll be escorting the bridge builder Tazuna back to his home in the Land of Waves."

The door opened and an old man that reeked of booze walked in. He looked at the ninja there before turning to the Hokage. "No offence, but these brats don't look like much."

The sake bottle he had in his hand exploded, send the contents to the ground. Naruto stood behind him, one fingertip glowing. "You shouldn't insult those you hire to protect you, or one day they won't be around when you need them." Tazuna looked to see if the Hokage was going to do something, only to see that Naruto was standing next to the desk. He looked back behind him to find nothing.

'Who the hell is that kid?'

Kakashi shook his head. "Go get ready, and be at the gate in twenty minutes."

Tazuna was the first out of the office and Anko cracked Naruto on the back of the head. "What the hell?!"

"You wasted perfectly good booze."

"You should know that I'm not that stupid." He pulled a bottle from behind his back. "I switched it first." He handed the bottle to Anko and disappeared in flames. He appeared in his apartment to get his things, luckily for him, he had almost everything he owned in storage scrolls, so it didn't take long to get everything ready. He put on his vest and attached his swords before going to Ichiraku's to get something to eat before leaving.

"Hey old man, I want one chicken, one beef, and one miso."

"Alright, coming right up."

"So Naruto, anything interesting happen lately?"

"I'm going on a mission today, thought I'd get some ramen before leaving."

"Be careful, it can be dangerous outside the village."

"It shouldn't be too bad, it's only a C-rank. At most it will be a few bandits."

"Still be careful."

"I will be. Besides, I can take care of myself, and if it gets too bad, I have my sensei and another team with me." He quickly devoured the ramen when it was placed in front of him and said goodbye to the two of them before heading for the gate. When he got there, he was surprised to see Kakashi was already there with Tazuna. Anko was also there, with a bored expression and spinning a kunai around her finger.

Sasuke arrived soon after and they left the village. Naruto couldn't be happier, he was away from those who hated him, and the smells were invigorating. The smell of the forest and the animals warmed his heart. Nearly half an hour after they left, those smells were overpowered by the smell of old blood and people. "There's something up ahead, people and the smell of old blood."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, I sense two chakra sources, but they're being toned down, so I can't say how strong they are."

"Be ready for anything." Naruto pulled both of his swords and handed Gesshoku to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at him strangely. "We don't know what they got for weapons, and it's best if we don't get too close." He nodded though unsure how to use it. Naruto walked with Shin'en over his shoulder. "If you think they're going to block your strike, channel some chakra into the sword and watch out for flying shards."

They kept walking. 'Where are they, I know they're here. We almost on top of them.'

'Kit, when did it rain last?'

'What does that matter?'

'There's a puddle up ahead, when did it rain last?'

'Not for at least a week.'

'So there shouldn't be a puddle at all.'

'They're hiding in a puddle? They would have had to been trained as Mist ninja to do that. Shit, this old man's a liar, bandits my ass.' He turned to Sasuke and whispered. "They're hiding in the puddle, they mist ninja." His eyes widened as he looked at the puddle.

"Are you sure?"

"The only way they could do that is if they were trained as ninja from the Hidden Mist, whether or not they still work for them. I hope they make this interesting." As they neared the puddle two ninja jumped out of it and shot chains that wrapped around Kakashi and Anko. The pulled back on them and ripped the two jonin apart.

"So much for those two, now hand over the old man if you don't want to meet the same fate."

Naruto started laughing. "You actually think you killed them, they're up in the tree. You two must really be dumb if you fell for that. Sasuke, would you like to take care of these dumb asses?"

"They're not worth my time."

"Alright, keep him safe, I want to kill him myself." He walked forward towards the two and they were laughing.

"Look brother, this boy thinks he can take us both."

"What a fool, he doesn't know who he's dealing with."

"I know exactly who I'm dealing with, you two are barely chunin level and obviously, you two don't have a brain between you, so you hired muscle." He put Shin'en away.

They stopped laughing and stood side by side. "You'll regret fighting us. Let's do it brother." They connected their gauntlets and chains and shot it at him. It wrapped around him. "You dead now."

"You think so?" Dark energy spread across his body starting at the left hand, he walked through the chain towards them and it hit the ground. They were too shocked to move and when he reached them, he stuck his hands through their chest and squeezed they hearts. "Who do you work for? How many more are there?"

He lessened his grip. "We can't tell you, they'll kill us."

"I'll kill you mother fucker, I'll just enjoy it more."

"I know who they work for." Naruto turned to look at Tazuna. Anko and Kakashi dropped from the tree and moved over to their students. "There's a man named Gato in my country, he says he a business man, but he has a hand in drugs and other shady business. He took over the shipping companies and forced us into poverty, I working on a bridge that will connect us to the continent. He knows that if it's finished, he will lose his strangle hold on us and wants me dead before I can finish it. He has a small army of mercenaries at his command."

"Thank you Tazuna." Naruto turned back to the two ninja. "It seems we no longer need you." He moved his hands into their heads and squeezed lightly, cause them to black out. His hands slipped out as they fell to the ground. 'These bastards should be grateful I didn't kill them.'

"Naruto, have you ever heard of self restraint?"

"Yes, and I just showed it. If I had wanted to, I could have easily killed them. As it is, they'll wake up and have nothing worse than a hangover. Granted, it will feel like they were drinking the purest of alcohols." He made some clones. "I'll just tie these idiots up and we can continue."

"Now just wait a minute kid, I know you were bored as hell at the village, but this is easily an A-rank mission. We have no idea what else is waiting for us."

"I know, and that just makes me want to go more. This is just starting to get interesting, I thought I'd be bored as hell taking the old man home, but I couldn't be happier." He bowed to Tazuna. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for lying to the Hokage."

"Naruto, I agree with Anko, this is much more dangerous than we were led to believe. But I'll agree to continue if and only if everyone thinks we should."

"He does have a point Kakashi, it's this or more D-rank missions at home. I say we go."

"Thanks Sasuke."

"It could be fun playing with these guys."

"Alight, we keep going, but if Anko or I tell you to run, you damn well better." The clones finish tying up the two would-be attackers and disappeared. Sasuke gave Naruto back Gesshoku and they continued walking until they came to the ocean, the smell of salt in everyone's nostrils.


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto stared out over the water, a smile on his face. "Beautiful."

"I couldn't agree more. No matter how many times I see it, it always takes my breath away."

Naruto turned to see Anko. "This place reminds me of my mother's eyes. She would have loved it here."

Tazuna walked over. "My friend should be here soon to ferry us across." They heard the sound of a motor moving closer. "Speak of the devil."

The man's small boat was barely big enough for them all to sit in, but it was the best they could hope for. As they got closer to land, the mist became increasingly thicker. They docked the said farewell to the ferryman. As they walked, Naruto was on edge, he could feel a tremendous chakra source, and it was moving closer all the time. With his increased hearing he picked up a whistling sound. "Get down!" He pulled Tazuna to the ground as a large sword flew overhead.

He looked up at the sword to see a man in blue striped pants, white and black arm covers, and a strap of leather wrapped around his neck and connected to his pants. "At least someone in your group noticed. I was hoping that it wouldn't be that easy." The turned around showing his Hidden Mist headband and that lower half of his face was wrapped in bandages. "Ah, Sharingan Kakashi. For someone of your reputation, you don't seem to be worthy of it."

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist."

"So you have Anko Mitarashi with you as well, I'm flattered, but I'm also insulted that you brought two weak genin." Naruto burst into flames and Zabuza started looking around for him. "It seems I already scared one away."

He was hit in the mid-back and sent crashing to the ground. "Who are you calling weak?!"

Zabuza slowly got up. "I'm impressed kid, I didn't even know you were there, but you don't have what it takes to be a ninja, if you did, you would have killed me."

"I didn't want to kill you, because if I did, it wouldn't have been any fun." He stepped on to the tree and kick Zabuza's sword free. He grabbed the handle and jumped off the tree, landing in front of Zabuza. "Here catch." He threw him the sword and pull Shin'en.

Zabuza laughed. "You're a strange one kid, I'll enjoy killing you." They ran towards each other, Zabuza swinging overhead and Naruto bring his to block. Naruto punch him in the side and spun around to his backside where he swung at hit right shoulder. Zabuza spun in pace and smashed his sword against Naruto's, sending it off course. "You're not bad kid, but you're no match for me, I'm one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu."

"Big deal, you may be called a demon, but you're still only human. Demons are powerful, and immortal, you aren't." Naruto pulled Shin'en upwards in an arch only for Zabuza to step back and take a swing at his mid-section. Quickly drawing Gesshoku, he stopped the attack. While Gesshoku was blocking Zabuza's sword, Naruto couldn't use Shin'en without being cut or stabbed by his katana. He put Shin'en back on his back and gripped Gesshoku with both hands.

When Naruto was doing this, Zabuza had moved his sword and was going for another overhead swing, but Naruto sidestepped it and plunged Gesshoku into his left shoulder. Zabuza stepped back, removing it from him, and leaped on to the surface of the nearby lake as Naruto sheathed his sword. "I under estimated you kid, but I'm going to end it now." He started doing hand signs. "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu."

A large serpent-like dragon of water rose from the lake and stared down with glowing yellow eyes. It charged Naruto as he made some seals as well. "Katon: Ryuka no Jutsu." He took a deep breath and when he released it, a flame dragon charged towards the water one Zabuza created. They collided and were canceled out as the water turned to steam. Neither could see through it, but Naruto could sense that Zabuza was using chakra. It finally dissipated to show an army of Zabuza clones. "I can do that too." He made hand seals and a fourth of the number that Zabuza had appeared next to Naruto.

He waved his hand and the clones ran out onto the water. Zabuza's clones met them and while the clones did battle, Naruto made his way towards Zabuza. "I don't need as many clones as you because mine are special, they can take a lot of damage without disappearing." One by one, Naruto's clones join him, most bruised and bloody. When they were all with him, he made them disappear. "I can already hear what people will say when they hear one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu was killed by a genin." His right forearm started to glow as he moved closer. "This is where you die."

Naruto was hit from behind and was sent into the water. When he surfaced, Zabuza's hand was in his face and the water formed a sphere around him. He saw another Zabuza no far from them. "You missed one."

From inside the sphere, Naruto was laughing. "You think this can hold me?" He tried to move, but the water was heavy.

"You were saying." From the shore, three giant fireballs came flying towards him. Zabuza mad two more clones and they jumped in front of them. "I didn't forget about you three, I'll be there to kill you in a moment, but I have to finish with this one first."

Another water dragon rose from the lake and charged toward Zabuza. He used his sword to slice the dragon down the middle, causing the water to fall back into the lake. While he was doing so, he failed to notice that Kakashi was running towards him. When he did, he created another army of clones. When it was clear that Kakashi was having trouble dealing with all of them at once, Anko went to help him, leaving Sasuke to guard Tazuna. Before she got there, Kakashi used Shadow clones to help defeat Zabuza's clones, but Zabuza continually made more. Zabuza watch as his clones did battle with Kakashi, his clones, and Anko.

Naruto had tried again and again to escape, but to no avail. 'Only one thing left to do.' "Anko, get them out of here! I'm going to do what it takes to stop him! This is gonna be big!" The glow spread over his whole body. Anko and Kakashi both knew what that meant and ran to the shore where they grabbed Sasuke and Tazuna before using Shunshin to get away. "Boom." A white light engulfed a fifty-foot radius and lingered there for a few minutes before slowly moving back to the center. Naruto looked around, he was standing on the lake and everything was the same. Zabuza screamed in agony with his hands over his eyes.

"You brat, you blinded me!"

"I meant to kill you. Instead of a boom I got a flash. If you ever see again, you'll be seeing dots for weeks. Fortunately for you, I'm not going to let you live that long." Turning his left forearm black, he reached into Zabuza's chest to crush his heart, but when he placed his hand on it, three needles stuck into Zabuza's neck and his heart stopped beating. Naruto's hand came out of his chest when he fell into the water.

A masked ninja appeared next to the body and picked it up. Naruto had been too occupied to sense this other chakra source, but he now memorized the feel of it. This ninja wore the Mist symbol on the mask, and wore a greenish-brown bodysuit and the same color sash tied around the aquamarine shirt that was on top of the bodysuit. "Thank you for your assistance, I've been tracking him for a while now, but I could never find the right moment to strike."

"So he was a missing-nin, those other two probably were too. In any case, you're welcome, it was fun fighting him, but I would have like to killed him myself."

"If you'll excuse me, this body hold many secrets and must be disposed of." The ninja started walking away, but turned back near the trees. "May I ask the name of the one who defeated the Demon of the Hidden Mist?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'll remember that name." With that the hunter ninja disappeared into the trees. Naruto turned around and headed towards where he felt his teams chakra signatures.

'I don't trust that one Kit.'

'Neither do I, but I felt his heart stop.'

'A jolt of electricity could start it again.'

'We'll just have to keep a look out for those two.'

'Agreed, but be sure to relay my opinion to your team. That way they will also be keeping an eye out.'

'Not such a good idea for Kakashi, he only uses one.' Kyuubi chuckled inside his cell.

--------------------------

Thirty feet from the battlefield, Naruto found them all sitting down rubbing their eyes. He smiled at them. "Be honest, who can't see." Kakashi raised his hand. "You looked back didn't you?" He shook his head, but Anko, Sasuke, and Tazuna nodded. "At least it didn't go like I thought it would, if it had you'd all be dead. Apparently, covering my whole body only blinds instead of exploding."

"So did you finish him off?"

"I would have, expect a Mist hunter ninja got him first. I think he's dead because I felt his heart stop, but there's a small chance that he's alive. If he is, the hunter ninja is work with him and judging by the chakra, this one is somewhere between high chunin and mid jonin level. I couldn't really get a good reading, I think they was suppressing only a small amount, almost like they wanting me to know. Zabuza was definitely mid jonin, and his sword skills far surpass mine, I got lucky hitting him that once."

"Nice work kid, you have the makings of a great ninja. Let's get moving, we need to get Tazuna home. Someone will have to help Kakashi." Naruto said he would, but Kakashi wouldn't let him and Sasuke ended up doing it.

"My village isn't far from here, my daughter will be overjoyed to meet you all." Tazuna led them through the streets of the small village. People were everywhere, willing to work for food or anything else. The small shops and booths had little to no inventory and everyone had a gloom about them.

"You weren't kidding, this is horrible."

"That bridge is our only hope. If I can finish it, trading with other villages will become easier and the Land of Waves will thrive again."

"Why have you never risen up against Gato? Surely there are more citizens than his thugs."

"There are, but they're fishermen and shop owners, none of whom have training to fight."

"Still, you shouldn't just roll over and die. No matter how you justify it, it's cowardice. Men like Gato are tyrants, if even one child stood up to him, others would follow their example and that is what he fears most."

"The last person to stand up to him was brutally murdered in front of the village. When he died, so did the people's courage."

"As sad as that is, he died for what he believed to be right, he was a hero and died a hero's death, there is no greater honor."

"There was no honor in his death!"

"A true hero gives his life to help others. He died for you and your people in hopes that someone would finish what he started. What's funny is that it seems a hero's last wish is always easily ignored." Naruto turned a started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"To train, I'll be back before long."

Though he couldn't see it, he could hear what was going on. "Anko, are you really going to let him go off on his own?"

"It's not like I could stop him, besides, he can take care of himself just fine and if he does need help, he can always summon something."

'Are you sure it's wise to wonder off on your own Kit. I know you have excessive chakra reserves, but even you have limits.'

'I know, but I need to blow off some steam or I'm going to explode.'

'Alright, just don't over do it. If something happens, no one will be there to help you.'

Naruto walked into the forest a little ways and pulled out a scroll. He looked up and down the list of contents until he found what he was looking for. He bit his thumb, drawing blood and wiped it across the name of the item. In a puff of smoke, a bag of rubber balls sat before him. He shook his head. 'Yondaime sure had a thing for childish objects and making them pop.'

He picked up one of the balls and started spinning his chakra in it like he had the balloon. When nothing happened, he pushed more chakra into it. As he added more, it started shaking and he kept adding more. The ball sprung a leak and deflated. "Damn it." Although it hadn't even been a week since his clone read it, he went to Yondaime's scroll. He looked over the step he was on, he was a little agitated that he had done what it said to, and the last word was added like an after thought, 'Concentrate.'

'Concentrate, yeah that's helpful, concentrate on what?'

'Maybe the ball, try concentrating on only the ball and your chakra like you did the rock.' Naruto put the scroll back and grabbed another ball. He blocked everything but the ball and his chakra, again the ball just sprung a leak. 'Kit, what is at the center when you spin your chakra?'

'Nothing I guess, I think it's hollow.'

'Condense your chakra there as tight as you can.'

He grabbed yet another ball and tried again. Muttering 'concentrate, over and over again, he started to spin his chakra, while at the same time filling the void in the middle with more. The ball started to glow and his eyes widened. The explosion set him hurtling into the trunk of a tree where he slid down to the ground unconscious.

He woke up in front of Kyuubi's cell. "My head is gonna split open when I get up. Dad, did I use Meian or what, the ball was glowing."

Kyuubi was laughing. "No Kit, that wasn't Meian, you used quite a bit of your human chakra and it made it glow. It's quite impressive, most can't make their chakra visible."

"At least I made it pop."

"Oh yes Kit, you demolished it, I doubt you'll find any pieces." His head turned suddenly. "Kit, you need to get back out there, someone's coming." Kyuubi's red chakra shot from the cage and pushes Naruto back into the conscious world.

His eyes slowly open to see a girl in front of him wearing a pink kimono with red spirals all over it, a band around the neck, and carrying a basket. "Are you alright?"

He smiled a bit. "Yeah, just resting."

"You really shouldn't, there are many dangers out here."

"I can take care of myself. Why are you out here by yourself?"

"I was gathering herbs, could you help me, it would go faster if you did."

"Sure, I just need to know what I'm looking for." She reached into the basket and handed him a flower. "These are for medical treatment, hope it's nothing serious."

"Nothing too bad."

"That's good, it would be a pity if Zabuza died before I got to fight him again." She jumped back from him. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I could sense who you were before you spoke, I'd still like to help you gather these."

"Why, we are your enemies."

"So, enemies can become allies when it suits them. And Zabuza gave me the best fight yet, I have to repay him for that."

"I still don't trust you."

"Good, you really shouldn't normally, but I'm anything but normal." He stood up and walked over to her. "Shall we?" She nodded. "Alright, follow me, I saw a field of these on my way here." Her hand twitched near her side. "I told you, I have no quarrel with you at the moment, and as a show of good faith I'll have you hold on to my weapons."

He pulled out an empty scroll and sealed both of his swords, his kunai pouch, shuriken holder, and two more kunai he hid up his sleeves. He handed it to her and smiled. "If you don't mind me asking, something's been bugging me since we met before, are you a boy or girl?"

"Which do you think?"

"I would normally be able to tell by your scent, but yours is strange, you smell of blood and seawater, but it's mostly overpowered by the smell of snow and ice these hide the distinct scent of gender. If I had to guess I would say a girl, your voice is feminine, as is your face, but your body type says boy, though you could have a wrap around your chest. I not really sure if I hope you're a boy or girl, if you're a boy, I would have no problem with fight you, it's just not right fight a girl even of they are as strong or stronger. But if you are a boy, I'm gonna feel really weird, because I think your beautiful."

He smiled at the sight of the blush. Reaching behind the head, the band was removed, revealing no Adam's apple. "You were right, I'm a girl. My name's Haku."

"Seeing as how you already asked my name, I see little point of repeating it. The field is just ahead." When they arrived, Sasuke was walking towards them. Haku gasped and stared angrily at Naruto. "Hey Sasuke, what are you doing here?"

"I came to get you, who's that."

"She's was looking for some herbs and I said I help."

"Well aren't you a nice guy, but we have to get back now."

"I'll catch up, I'll just need to show her where I saw the herbs."

"Don't take long, Anko's pissed as it is."

He shuddered. "I'll be there shortly." Sasuke turned around and walked back into the forest. "Sorry Haku, I didn't know he'd be here."

"I more surprised you didn't tell him."

"If I did, you wouldn't be able to patch up Zabuza, like I said before, I want to fight him again."

"Why?"

"Because I admit he's a better fighter than me, he far surpasses me as a swordsman, his jutsu are powerful, the only thing I have him beat at is stamina. Please tell him what I said, and that it was an honor to fight someone of his caliber." She nodded and handed him back his weapon scroll. "Thank you, but I have to get going, I've learned from experience that it's not wise nor healthy to keep Anko waiting." He smiled and waved to her as he left.

Deep within her mind a might voice sounded. 'Kyuubi.'

---------------------------------

"It about damn time brat, what the hell were you doing?"

"Helping a girl find some herbs. That what he said anyway."

"And it's true. She came across me while I was resting from training and I said I'd help."

"Whatever, since we have reason to believe that Zabuza is alive, we're going to train Sasuke in chakra control, since you know all the ones I do, I leave it up to you what you do."

"I'll protect Tazuna while he's at the bridge and go to train while you guys are here. If Zabuza shows up, I fairly confident that it won't be for a few weeks, but Gato might send others."

"Why not for a few weeks?"

"His wounds would need to heal, and like Kakashi, he's been blinded. His will probably last longer than Kakashi as he looked straight at the center of the flash."

"Alright, we start tomorrow, for now get some rest." Unfortunately for them, Naruto and Sasuke had to share a room while Anko and Kakashi each got their own.

'Hey dad, did you sense something strange about Haku?'

'She was far stronger than we first thought, she may be able to rival you. You need to tell them this.'

'Maybe in a few days, I don't want them to know it was her.'

'They'll find out sooner or later.'

'I know, and when they do I can play dumb. I got a long day ahead of me, good night dad.'

'Good night Kit.'


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto woke up early and went outside to wake up completely. The mist was thick, he couldn't see more than a few feet in front of him. **'Kit, your demonic chakra is increasing again, you're advancing though tails unbelievably fast, most would still only have one tail.'**

'So I have three now?'

'Not yet, but if it keeps building, you will. I'm am surprised that you can't transform yet though.'

'I wish I could, but I still haven't mastered Rasengan yet. If I remember correctly, there were only three steps, so I should be almost there.' He heard someone walking up behind him and spun around to find a small boy. He smiled down at him and crouched down. "Hi there, what's your name?" the boy didn't answer, he just stared at Naruto. "I'm Naruto, I came here to protect Tazuna. Do you know him?" The boy just nodded. Naruto sighed and saw the kid was crying. 'Poor kid's traumatized.' "You were at the hero's death weren't you?"

The boy's head shot up and stared into Naruto's eyes. "There's no such thing as heroes."

"Yes there are, they're the ones that fight for what they believe in, and sometimes die for it. He was a hero and would be ashamed at how these people took his death. Instead of sparking the courage to stand up for yourselves, you smothered it. You all betrayed his memory by not following his example." The boy tears increased. "Stop crying kid, it seems to be inescapable that a hero's last wish go unheeded. The same happened after Yondaime died. Go home kid."

"My name's not kid, it's Inari and this is my home, you're protecting my grandfather."

"Really, I don't seem to remember him mentioning a grandson. He did mention a daughter, so that must make her your mom." He heard movement from inside the house. "Come on, the others are waking up." He head back towards the door and Inari trudged behind him. He sat down at the kitchen table and noticed that Inari kept glancing at a picture hanging on the wall. It had Inari, Tazuna, a woman Naruto guessed was Tazuna's daughter, and part of it was ripped off, but could make out a hand on Inari's head coming from the missing part. 'I'll ask Tazuna later.'

'Gaara, you free?'

'For the moment, what is it Naruto?'

'I was wondering how it went with you brother and sister.'

'They seemed scared, but they didn't run off screaming. Temari even seemed to honestly want to get to know me.'

'Well that's a good start, who knows, maybe after a while they won't be so scared.'

'I hope so, how about you, what are you're teammates like?'

'Don't have any, I was placed by myself under a sensei, but for the chunin exam, I'll be working with two people that I won't know how they fight. This mission should give me some info on one of them though.'

'Are they having you do D-rank missions?'

'No thank god, the one I'm on now was suppose to be C-rank, but the client lied and it turned out to be A-rank at least. Missing-nin, corrupt business man, a small army of thugs, and the beautiful but deadly Haku.'

'It's odd to compliment an enemy.'

'Maybe, but it's true, she might be able to hold her own against me. I've never been so excited, but I don't want to fight her at the same time. I don't understand why, but just seeing her makes me not want to fight.'

'I don't know, I've never felt anything like that, perhaps Kyuubi has.'

'Maybe. What about you, don't tell me they have you doing D-rank missions.'

'No, the villagers would be too scared to have my assistants. My siblings do, but I've been sent on two solo missions, one B-rank and one A-rank. Either my father is confident I'll succeed or hopes I'll die during them.'

'Well if he is hoping, he'll be sorely disappointed.'

'Sorry Naruto, I have to meet with the bastard now to give a report of the mission.'

'Try not to get to mad, or your sand might attack. You don't want to be a missing-nin before you can fend off an army.'

'I'll try to control myself.'

When Naruto finally became aware of his surroundings again, he saw that everyone was watching him with a confused expression. "What?"

"You were smiling while staring off into space."

"Sorry, was just thinking about something."

Anko walked over to him. "Would it happen to be the girl from yesterday?"

"Maybe, if you had seen her, you wouldn't blame me. So Tazuna, when would you like to head to the bridge?"

"After breakfast, can't work on an empty stomach." As if on cue, Tazuna's daughter came into the room with the food. "It looks delicious Tsunami."

She handed out plates, but Naruto declined. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid I'm not very hungry. Please excuse me. Tazuna, I'll be outside when you're ready, I have to make sure of something." He walked outside and around the house to where several foxes waited. "Did you get the scents of everyone inside?" The foxes all nodded. "Good, now if you smell anyone other than them coming to this house, raise your chakra levels, I be able to sense it and I'll come back, understand?" Again they nodded. "One more thing, if the boy or his mother leave, one of you go with them, but stay out of sight. If something happens to them, follow them and when they stop signal me." They nodded again and ran off in different directions.

"That's an interesting skill you have Naruto." Kakashi's voice made him jump and he turned to face him. "Using foxes to set up a perimeter."

"They're my summon, seems you're visions back, maybe Zabuza will come sooner than I thought."

"I wonder, does the Hokage know you're aware of it?"

"Yes he does know that I'm aware of _him_, and I warn you once and only once to not insult him in front of me. He is the only reason I'm still alive after years of the village's treatment."

"So you were talking about Yondaime's last request yesterday."

"Who else would I have been talking about. He ruined my life that day, but even though that's true, he's not the one I hate. I hate the one who caused Kyuubi's attack. If you want to know, ask the old man, if he doesn't tell you, you don't have the right to know."

"I wonder what else you've been hiding."

"From you, quite a bit, from Anko and the old man absolutely nothing, they have both earned my respect." Kakashi raised his headband. Naruto clenched his fist and it started glowing. "If you want to fight, I'll take you on, but I warn you that if you attack me, I won't hold back because of that." He points at Kakashi's headband.

"Kakashi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Anko came running up to them. He just slid his headband back down and walked away. Naruto's hand dimmed as he did. Anko looked after Kakashi. "What did he see you doing?"

"Talking with my smaller fox summons. I have them set up in different areas and if anyone other then Tazuna's family and us try comes here, they'll alert me, and probably you if you're close enough." He glared at Kakashi's retreating back. "He smells of dogs."

"That's his summon, he has six personal ones, but his favorite is Pakkun. I've never figured out how, but it can speak our language. In any case, I came to tell you that we leaving now and that Tazuna is waiting for you at the house." They went back to the house where Kakashi and Sasuke left with Anko while Tazuna and Naruto headed for the bridge.

As they walked, Tazuna noticed some of the foxes. "There sure are a lot of foxes this year."

"Most of these are mine, I have them watching your house in case something should happen."

"Why didn't I see them before?"

"They're not real foxes, well they are, but not from this plane, I summoned them like others can summon dogs, toads, snakes, and stuff like that. It's a special ability that any ninja can do, but have to sign a contract with that kind animal to do so. I'm the only living ninja that can summon foxes, before me there were only two others."

When they arrived, a few of the workers where coming off of the bridge. "We sorry Tazuna, but it's too dangerous. Gato will kill our families."

"He's slowly killing them anyways, but if this is what you think you have to do, go ahead and leave." They muttered apologies and left.

"I can help you out with crew, but they'll need some guidance." Naruto made some hand signs and fifty clones stood on the bridge. "They can do anything I can and will last a while. They need to be directed by someone for a little bit, but they'll get the hang of it and be fine by themselves afterwards."

"You just full of surprises kid, I appreciate the help."

"No problem, the faster the bridge is getting built, the more afraid Gato will become. I hope that he comes himself so I can take his head."

"I doubt it, he never does his own dirty work, but there's a first time for everything." While the clones worked, Naruto stayed close to Tazuna incase Gato did send someone.

"Hey Tazuna, who else was in that picture in the kitchen, it seemed strange that it was ripped out."

Tazuna sighed. "He was the man I told you about, his name was Kaiza. He wasn't Inari's actual father, but he was the one Inari knew. We never knew where he came from, but the day he arrived, he saved Inari from drowning. He quickly became part of our family and cared for my daughter and Inari like he was their father and husband. I was happy to know that when I died he would be there to take care of them."

"Then the day came when Gato showed up, Kaiza refused to give in and went to demand that Gato stop his madness. He told Inari that he would protect the things he held dear with his own two hands. The day after he left, Gato had him publicly murdered. Since then, Inari's never been the same, his happiness seems to have dead along with the people's courage."

"Not long after his death, I decided that since I could not fight against Gato and his thugs, I would undermined him by destroying his monopoly on our trading routes. I started work on this bridge nearly a year ago, but due to death and threats, my workers have become scared and I've had a hard time convincing them to stay."

"Well then, I think we should change that." He dismissed his clones to receive all their knowledge and recreated them, but this time there were over two hundred. "You know what to do, so get to work." They all ran off toward the workers to help. "There, a new batch with all the knowledge of the last. This should speed things up a bit."

Naruto leaned against a pile of metal beams and looked up at the sky. **'Do you feel it Kit?'**

'Yes, this is the calm before the storm, there will be a bloody battle in the future.'

'**There is a chance you will face her, you realize this correct?'**

'Yes I do. But I can't stop thinking about her. It's driving me nuts.'

'You're attracted to her Kit. I felt the same about your mother, no matter how angry I was, just seeing her calmed me.'

'Damn this sucks, I don't want to fight her, but I'm the only one who stands a chance.'

'You may not have a choice Kit, she seems protective of Zabuza and if you try to kill him, she will try to stop you.'

'This really fucking sucks. I need to find her, and try to convince her not to continue this job. Everyone will think Zabuza is dead and he won't have to worry about hunter-nin anymore.'

'It's worth a try, but it may be difficult to find her.'

'I know, but I have to try.' His eyes open and it was nearly dark. "Sorry Tazuna, I must have fallen asleep."

"Don't worry about it, some of the other ones came over soon after. It's time to go home anyways." Naruto nodded and dismissed the clones. They made their way back to Tazuna's house at a slow pace, and when they did get there, Naruto stayed only long enough to make sure the others were there before heading into the woods.

He had been wondering in the woods for what seemed like hours, looking for Haku. 'Damn it, why is she so hard to find?'

'Because you're her enemy, do you really think she'd just let you find her?'

'Well no, but I didn't think it would be this hard.' He heard the sound of moving water and moved towards it. 'Might as well get a drink.' He moved a branch that blocked his view and the sight stunned him. There standing by the creek was the one he was looking for, but what stunned him was that she was lifting the water into the air and turning it to ice. "Amazing."

His voice was barely louder than a whisper but she heard it and launched the ice needle at him. He caught it between two fingers. "One thing about training with Anko is that your reflexes get better or you get hurt." He smiled at her. "I was looking for you."

"Why?"

"I wanted to try and talk you out of finishing this job." He walked closer to her and sat down. "To put it simply, I don't want to fight you, and I know that if one of us don't give up in the end we'll have to."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because there is more benefit if you do. I haven't told them that he's alive, if you don't try to kill Tazuna again, everyone will hear that Zabuza's dead and the hunter-nin won't keep looking for him. He could start a new life somewhere where no one knows him."

"Why would you do that?"

"I already told you, I don't want to fight you."

"But why don't you?"

"I care about you, I doubt I could ever bring myself to harm you, even if you killed someone important to me."

"This isn't my decision, it's Zabuza's. I will bring this option to his attention, but I doubt he'll take it, he wishes for greatness and living any other way will be pointless."

"Please tell him that greatness is not only achieved through bloodshed."

"Tell me, is there someone precious to you Naruto?"

"There are four. Other than you, there's the Hokage, my friend Gaara, and my cousin. There is one other, he's not alive, but he's not dead either, he just is."

She smiled. "You speak of the one the reside within you." His eyes widened. "I sensed it from you when you blinded Zabuza, the demonic chakra that was used."

"You know yet still sit here, most of the others that know have tried to kill me at one point or another."

"They fear him, he is stronger than they could hope to be and because he resides in you, you are stronger as well."

"So what was that thing you were doing? I've never heard of anyone be able turn water to ice using chakra before."

"It's my kekkei genkai, it's called Haton. I've never met anyone other then my mother who could use it."

"Is she a ninja?"

"No, she was in hiding, because where I come from, people with kekkei genkai are feared and killed because of what people with them did during the wars. My own father killed my mother because of his fear. He would have killed me as well, but I accidentally killed him and the other attackers using it."

"You shouldn't be sorry, you were protecting yourself, my friend Gaara did the same to his uncle a few years ago, he's also feared in his village."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have troubled you with my problems."

"He said that to me as well, but I have no problem listening if it will help. Haku, would you meet me here tomorrow night, to tell me Zabuza's decision? If he doesn't accept, I'll have to tell my team he's alive."

"I'll try to convince him, but I can't promise anything. If he does accept, Gato will need to be killed because he has seen Zabuza since your fight."

"I plan to kill him anyway. People like him disgusted me, he won't be missed."

"I need to go check on Zabuza, his vision's returning, but he can't see well in the dark."

"Sorry about that, I really wasn't trying for that to happen."

"I know, but I'm happy it did, otherwise we'd all be dead."

"Unfortunately, I would have survived, killed the two of you, my team, and failed my mission."

"I sorry, but I have to go."

"I understand, I hope for good news tomorrow."

"As do I." She disappeared in a swirl of mist. He smiled and vanished in flames.

------------------------------

He appeared not far from Tazuna's house and a snow white fox bound up to him. "Anything happen while I was gone?" It shook his head. "Good, keep up the good work, and I'll be sure to get you all a special treat." It yipped happily and ran back the way it came. He chuckled as he watched it run into different bushes here and there. "Must be spreading the word." He made his way to the house and slipped in noiselessly.

In order to get to the room he shared with Sasuke, or any bedroom for that matter, he had to pass through the kitchen. He found both Anko and Kakashi sitting there. "You do know it's passed midnight don't you?"

"Nope, I was out in the woods where there are no clocks and it's hard to see the moon."

Kakashi stared at him for a moment. "You don't look like you've been training."

"I wasn't, my clones were. I get the knowledge they had when they disappear. While they were training, I was reading a jutsu scroll the old man let me borrow. So how did things go today?"

"Alright, but we had to start him with the basics."

"Really? I would have thought he knew at least tree climbing."

'Tazuna told us how things went today, using your clones to help, you saying you wanted to kill Gato, and..." Anko stood up and move behind him. The only thing that went through his mind was two words, 'Oh Shit.' She hit him on a back of the head. "Falling asleep."

"I made too many clones, and maintaining them and the foxes takes a lot of chakra. Besides, some of my clones moved to protect him when I was sleeping, it's not like I did it on purpose, it won't happen again."

"It damn well better not, but tomorrow I'm coming with you to make sure it doesn't."

"Whatever, I'm heading to bed, night." Naruto made no noise as he went up the stairs and slipped into the room, but when he turned around Sasuke was staring at him from the windowsill. "You should go to sleep, you have training in the morning."

"I know, but something's been bothering me."

"You gonna share or do you want to figure it out yourself?" When no reply came, Naruto laid down.

"That same fox again."

"She's telling the others that if they do a good job they'll get a treat."

"How do you know?"

"I told her. They're my summoning animals, and I have them keeping an eye on the house at night and when we're gone. Was that what was bothering you?"

"No, it's that so far you've done all the work, and all I've done is guard Tazuna and train."

"I gave you the option to fight the two idiots, and against Zabuza, I got lucky. As for the training, they're doing it so that if Zabuza is alive, you'll be able to defend yourself against him. And guarding Tazuna is the mission, so you were doing the work too. But I'll tell you what, if Zabuza is alive, you can have first crack at him." Naruto yawned and closed his eyes. "Good night."


	11. Chapter 11

Anko was woken just before daybreak by a massive surge of chakra. She ran out into the hall as Kakashi did. "What happening?"

"I don't know, but it's Naruto's chakra!" They ran into the boys' room to find Naruto sweating profusely and turning in his bed, the power coming off of him in waves. Sasuke was also awake and staring at the blonde. "All of this over a nightmare? What the hell could he be dreaming about?"

Slowly the power began to recede and Naruto stopped moving, his whisker marks shirking back to normal, but the sweat continued pouring off of him in buckets. "We'll have to wait till he wakes up to find out, because there is no way I'm waking him up. Sasuke, go check on Tazuna and his family, make sure they're alright." He slowly got up and left the room and as he did so, a white fox came through the window and sniff Naruto before curling up on his chest.

----------------------

Naruto looked up at Kyuubi in his fox form. "WHAT THE HELL KIT?"

"It was Orochimaru. He killed them all, everyone I care about and I couldn't do anything to stop him."

"YOU NEED TO WAKE UP NOW KIT, THEY ALL FELT THE CHAKRA EMINATING FROM YOU. YOU NEED TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT HAPPENED."

"Only Anko will understand."

"THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH FOR THE OTHERS."

Naruto made his way out of his mind, which no longer looked like a sewer, but empty hallways. He opened his eyes to see Anko and Kakashi standing over him and a weight on his chest. It yipped happily and licked his face. "Just because you came up here doesn't mean you get anything better than the others. Besides, you're suppose to be doing something right now." It whimpered and went back out the window. Naruto sat up and looked at the two jonin.

"Mind telling us what the fuck was with the surge of chakra?"

"A bad dream."

"I know you better than that brat, it would have had to be pretty damn twisted to affect you that badly."

"All the more reason not to talk about it." He stood up and moved to the window. "I won't let it come true." He turned back to them. "You're going to have to take guard duty by yourself Anko, I'm going to train today." He jumped out the window and used Shunshin before touching the ground. He appeared in the same place he spoke with Haku the night before, but this time there was a needle pinning a note to a tree. He easily pulled it from the tree and read the note.

_I'm sorry Naruto, he wouldn't listen and ordered me to kill you the next time I saw you. Please don't come looking for me again._

'What a fool, he's going to throw his life away for the sake of his petty pride.'

'ALL CREATURES HAVE PRIDE KIT.'

'Yeah, but most know when to shallow it. Fuck it, I have to tell them he's alive now, but I don't have to say I know who Haku is.' He tosses the note into the air and shot a small fireball at it, in seconds it was gone. He pocketed the needle. And pulled out both Yondaime's scroll and the storage scroll containing the materials he needed. He unrolled Yondaime's scroll. 'Let's see here, a filled balloon, using the first and second steps, but trying not to pop it and creating a shell around the chakra.' "First I'm suppose to pop them now I'm not, what the hell?"

He blew up one of the balloons and held it in his right hand. Taking a deep breath, he started spinning his chakra and filling the empty space with more. He added more and more until the balloon exploded. 'So that's the breaking point.' "This is getting boring, time to get some help." He created ten clones, each blew up a balloon and used his experiences to tell them what to do. One by one they slowly got the chakra amount right, but none were able to make a shell around the spinning chakra.

'Maybe the balloon is in the way Kit. Just to be safe, have one of your clones try to do the same step without the balloon.'

Naruto dismissed all but the one clone who attempted it. Without the balloon, the energy was erratic, but the clone managed to do the first two steps before the energy exploded, taking the clone with it. 'Surround the chakra with more chakra. Hmm.' He made another clone. "Try making the a hallow ball of chakra before trying the steps." The clone nodded and moved away.

The clone successfully made the hallow sphere, but when he started the second step, the shell crack and it exploded. Naruto sighed and made another. "Put more chakra into the shell." This one too moved away before starting. This kept up for over an hour before Naruto had to rest. He drank from the creek and caught some fish for breakfast. "This is a real pain in the ass."

He finished eating and made another clone. "I want you to make a shell that is thin, but strong. In other words, make a thick shell, and then compress it to be paper-thin. Got it?" The clone nodded and walked away. Where it made a half an inch thick sphere and then forced it to become thinner. "Good, now try to do the steps." The clone nodded again and started to spin the chakra, which blocked from view the fact the chakra was filling the center as well. The clone closed its eyes and looked away, but after a few moments it looked back at the stable ball and smiled.

"Good job, you did it. Do you want to see what it can do?" The clone nodded and struck the ball against a tree. It drilled a hole through it and the clone turned away happy. The tree suddenly fell and crushed the clone. "Ouch, that would have hurt." The clones knowledge came to Naruto, including what it was like to be crushed by a tree. "Yep, definitely would have hurt." He created several more clones and set them to the task of speeding up the creation process. While they did that, he went into the forest looking for what he needed to test a new idea.

After an hour, he limped back to the clearing. He went out on to the water and sat down with his legs crossed, hands together and his eyes closed. (Kind of like Shikamaru does.) He silently sat there, listening to everything around him, when he felt Kakashi rushing towards him. He quickly dismissed the clones without ever moving and waited until Kakashi was almost right next to him. "What do you want Kakashi, I'm busy."

"I want to know the reason behind the chakra surge this morning."

"I told you, it was a horrible nightmare, one I will not discuss."

"Anko said it was your chakra, but it felt a little like Kyuubi's, why?"

"Because Kyuubi is seal inside of me, some of his chakra is always mixed with mine. That is also why I heal so rapidly." Kakashi watched the boy the whole time with the Sharingan open, Naruto hadn't moved anything but his mouth during that time. "You really should cover that Kakashi, it will only drain your chakra. Trust me, you'll need it when Zabuza shows up again. The hunter-nin was here watching me not long ago, they didn't even try to hide their chakra this time. It was far beyond even Zabuza's. They even gave me a gift." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the needle, showed it to him, and put it back.

"Why didn't you go after them?"

"I barely beat Zabuza, and I just told you that this person is stronger than him. I would have stood a small chance at beating them if it wasn't for the fact that most of my chakra's gone. Either they suck at sense chakra levels, or they want to fight me at full strength because they left shortly after."

"We have to warn the others, you tell Anko and I'll tell Sasuke."

Naruto stood up and vanished in flames. Kakashi was right behind in a swirl of leaves. Naruto appeared right beside Anko. "We have a problem, Zabuza is alive and the hunter-nin is stronger than him."

"How do you know?"

"The hunter-nin was watching me train, they weren't even trying to suppress their chakra. I might have trouble fighting them."

"Did they do anything?"

"They threw a single needle." He pulled in from his pocket again. "Then they left, if it weren't for the fact that most of my chakra's gone, I would have fought them."

"Do the others know?"

"Kakashi went to tell Sasuke." She gave him a funny look. "He showed up soon after they left wanting to know about this morning."

"If you told him, you damn well better tell me."

"I didn't tell him, and the only reason I didn't say anything this morning is because I don't trust him. At least not the way I do you and the old man."

"While I agree that you shouldn't tell him everything, he should at least know what you're capable of. Though I disagree, he considered a genius and he's also Yondaime's student."

"All the more reason not to tell him."

"Why not?"

"Before we left, I went to the old man and asked if he knew any jutsu that didn't require hand signs. He let me borrow a scroll that contained the only one he knew of, Yondaime's Rasengan. He told me not to use it in front of anyone unless absolutely necessary or if he said so. It would cause a riot."

"Why do you need a jutsu that needs no hand signs?"

"Didn't I tell you?" She shook her head. He looked to see that Tazuna was out of earshot. "Because I'm half demon, I have a demon form. While I'm in it, I can't use jutsu that require hand sign because I won't have hands. The old man made me promise the same thing about it as Rasengan."

"So you can transform right now?"

"No, the first time I do, it's out of necessity. After that I can whenever I want."

"Tazuna wanted to go home soon anyway, so make some clones to keep an eye out, I have to talk to you in private." He nodded and made some clones. "Tazuna, the brat and I have to go check something strange noises, the clones will be here to protect you." The old man nodded as they walked away towards the land. "Why would the Hokage let you borrow that scroll?"

"I let him in on a little secret that would get his paperwork done faster." He was scratching the back of his neck. She glared at him. "Shadows clones are like mine, when they disappear the user gets the knowledge. I told him and said that he could get his work done faster and still know everything that it was about."

Her glare became amused. "No shit? I'll have to try that. My paperwork's always backed up, thanks kid."

"See, that's how he reacted. I'm surprised he didn't think of it sooner though."

"He didn't use that jutsu very often, but I'm sure he will now."

"Maybe he'll get some of his strength back, sitting behind that desk for so many years shrunk his chakra reserves."

"You'd be surprised, he may not look it, but he still got plenty of fight in him."

"You don't have to tell me, I still remember the last time he sent someone to go see Ibiki." Naruto shuddered. "The bastard tried so hard to get away only to run right into a mud wall box."

"I remember him, he kept mumbling to himself about the walls dripping. He gave the least amount of fun out of all the ones that were sent our way because of you. And a surprising amount had never even met you. They just said the wrong thing to the wrong person."

"Let's go get Tazuna and get him home." The walk back went by fast and as they approached, the same white fox sat in the walkway.

"I think this one likes you kid."

"She trying to impress me so she can get something better than the others." He crouched down next to the fox. "Anything happen while I was away?"

It nodded and yipped a couple times. "Fine, I'll take care of it."

"What is it?"

"It's nothing serious, something spooked one of my foxes and he's having a hard time getting it to leave. It's probably a wild fox or raccoon. I'll be inside as soon as I scare it off." Naruto walked off with the fox and Tazuna and Anko went inside. The white fox started yipping while trying to keep up with Naruto. "How could it be talking, you said it was an animal, and why would it be wearing clothes." Naruto went around the house till he found a red fox that was growling at a bush and Naruto could smell it. "A dog." He shook his head. "Pakkun come out, I know it's you."

A pug in a blue kimono like coat stuck its head out of the bush. "Do I know you?"

"No, but I know Kakashi. Why are you bothering my foxes?"

"I was told to help keep watch over the house."

"No offense to you, but these foxes have done a fine job thus far and though I'm sure you are equally adept, they have a great sense of smell and I can easily pick up their chakra signals. Kakashi may not trust them, but I am certain that they won't let me down."

"Alright, but he's not going to like this" Pakkun disappeared in a cloud of smoke and the red fox nodded before going back to its hiding place. The white one yawned and nuzzled Naruto's leg before running off too.

He went inside and glared at Kakashi. "My foxes are perfectly capable of doing their job, they don't need you to send out Pakkun."

"He is my best tracker, he a has better sense of smell than any of my other ones."

"In case you haven't noticed, foxes and dogs don't get along very well. Neither one of them was paying attention to what they were supposed to be doing. But at least Pakkun has a brain unlike you, he left when I asked him."

"You have no right to ask him to do anything."

"If I didn't, he wouldn't have listened. You're just lucky that these ones are only kits, if they had been adults, he wouldn't have been out there as long as he was. They won't let me down, so _don't_ interfere with them." He walked right back out the door.

"What the hell is your problem with him Kakashi? Sure he humiliated you, but still."

"Today he said that someone was watching him, and that they weren't hiding their chakra, but when I was heading out there, I didn't sense anyone else but him."

"You may have sensed the other person, you know how well Naruto can suppress his chakra."

"Maybe, but I think he's hiding something."

"Of course he is, he told you so yesterday when you tried to pick a fight with him. He also said that he hides nothing from me, so if it was anything that affected this mission, I would tell you, otherwise it's between a student and his instructor." Kakashi didn't respond, he just stood up and went upstairs. 'You'd better not be hiding anything from me kid.'

-----------------------

Naruto was lying on the roof staring up into the sky. "I should have killed him instead of just taking that damn book." 'Damn that Zabuza, why couldn't he just take the damn offer and leave?'

'The same reason you don't just leave, you don't like to lose and are so stubborn you make mules seem obedient by comparison.'

'I don't see how he would have lost from it, not having to watch your back everywhere you go, starting over somewhere, have a family.'

'Maybe those things don't interest him. Haku said he wanted greatness, if his reputation is so great that Anko and Kakashi know of it, then he's making a name for himself with the blood of his victims. Killing either of them would raise him high into the ranks of the missing-nin.'

'You would think that having the title of the Demon of the Hidden Mist, being one of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shu, and being one of the very few people to ever escape the Hidden Mist would be enough for him.'

'You should find out why he has that title, it may reveal something interesting about him. Anko or Kakashi might know.'

'It could be interesting to learn about him before he dies.' Naruto tried to stand, but his legs gave out and he fell back. 'Another tail I take it?'

'Yes it is, that's your third, you keep growing at this rate and you'll take my sister's title before long.'

'I'm not sure they would let me. From what you said, there are many who didn't approve of my mother, so they won't approve of me.'

'They won't have a choice, our law sates that the strongest of the clan leads. My sister declared you were part of the clan when you met her, and that can only be revoked if you were to kill another of the clan. Only demons can kill demons, despite what some may think.'

'Then I don't have to worry, I would never do that.'

'Good, now either go ask about Zabuza, or get some sleep, the coming storm is approaching fast.'

'I'm going to bed, I used too much chakra with the Rasengan today.'

'Good night Kit, hopefully there won't be a repeat of this morning.'

'I hope not, I couldn't bare to see it again.' He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, it was still dark and he could feel the slight raise in chakra from one of the foxes. He used Shunshin to appear next to it. The fox lowered its chakra level and yipped. "Are you sure?" It nodded. "Alright." He turned around, and as he walked, it yipped again and his eyes went wide.

Anko had felt the chakra too and rushed over to him. "What is it?"

"It's nothing, someone walked within his range, but wasn't heading this way and was out of range soon after."

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning."

"I'm going to stay up a bit longer just to be sure."

"Just be sure to sleep, we're all going to go to the bridge from now on since we know he's alive."

"I will. Sleep well Hebi-hime." She smiled and walked back inside. He quickly masked his chakra and burst into flames. He appeared where the fox had lost the scent and moved in the direction they were heading. 'Why are you so close by Haku?'

'Why follow her Kit, she said she would kill you the next time she saw you.'

'No, she said she was ordered to, not that she would. Besides, if she came this close there must be a reason why she did.'

'She could be luring you into a trap. I know I won't be able to stop you, just be careful Kit.'

'I will.' He continued to move until he felt a tiny flicker of her chakra just ahead of him. He walked the rest of the way, his senses alert for anything as he stepped in to the clearing. The moon shined down illuminating everything, but he didn't see her. He stuck his hands into his pockets, his right grabbing the needle. His whole body tensed when he felt something come up under his arms and rest on his shoulders while something warm pressed against his back.

"Naruto, you must go home to Konoha. I don't want to see you die."

"You know I won't, so why ask?"

"The same reason I asked Zabuza not to try again, hope that you would listen."

"Haku, you know I care about you, but my cousin is among my teammates and I could never forgive myself if something happened."

"I care for you as well, but I swore my life to Zabuza. Please take your team and leave." The grip on his arms moved to his stomach and he turned around in her embrace. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

"Even if I wanted to go, I could never convince them to. I don't understand why you would give your life to Zabuza, but I understand if you don't want me to know."

"You should know. He saved me, after I killed my father I wandered through villages living on the streets. One day he found me, and instead of being scared of my abilities, he wanted and accepted them. He gave me a purpose and took me in when no one else would."

He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "I'll have to thank him for that." He leans down to kiss her, but she pulls away.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I can't."

"It's alright Haku, I understand.

"No you don't. I really want to be able to do those kinds of things with you, but if I do, it will be that much more painful when we meet on the battlefield."

"If I kill Gato, will Zabuza finish the job regardless?"

"I can't see why he would. But you won't have the time, he's planning on attacking the bridge tomorrow."

"Then I'll do it tonight. I'll bring his head to the bridge."

"He won't be easy to find, none of his thugs use chakra."

"Damn, that causes a problem. My foxes can't even track him if they don't know which scent to follow."

"I'm sorry Naruto, I can't be of help in this. He came to our hide out, we never went to his."

"It's alright Haku, I'll can cover a lot of ground in a small time. I will find him."

He started to leave, but Haku grabbed his arm. "I have to tell you something, I'm pretty sure it won't matter, but I need to know if you feel the same afterwards."

"Haku, whatever it is, couldn't be any worse than having the Kyuubi sealed in me and could never make me feel any less for you. I will love you no matter what as you have me even though you know about Kyuubi." She released his arm and he turned to face her. "When this is over, would you return to Konoha with me?"

"I would love to, but you know as well as I do that you may not find Gato in time."

"Yes I know that, but that doesn't mean I can't hope and pray that I do. I don't want to lose you."

"Please be careful, Gato is merciless and has a small army at his beck and call."

"I will, one way or another, it will end tomorrow, I just hope it's in our favor."

"As do I." Naruto left the clearing making hand signs. The sound of one person running turned into the sound of hundreds. Day was breaking and Naruto was no closer to locating Gato. "Damn it, why is luck never on my side?"

'It has been on occasion, you met Haku didn't you?'

'Fine, you got me there. I can't keep looking, the others will wonder where I am if I don't get back soon.' "I'm sorry Haku, I failed." He used Shunshin to appear on the roof next to his swords. 'I still can get some sleep before they come to get me.' He laid down and was asleep the instant his eyes closed.


	12. Chapter 12

Anko walked outside to find the same white fox sitting there. "I don't suppose you know where he is." It nodded. "Could you show me?" It looked up towards the top of the house. "Up there huh. Thanks for your help." It yipped and nuzzled against her leg. "Aren't you cute, I'll tell you what, if you don't tell the kid, I'll get you some dango when we get back." It sounded like it was purring as it lick her leg and ran off into the bushes. Anko sighed and start walking up the side of the house.

When she reached the top she saw Naruto was still sleeping, his swords close at hand, but his hand was wrapped around the needle he had shown her. She masked her chakra and started to creep up to him. When she got within five feet, his grip on the needle relaxed slightly. "You never were very good at hiding you chakra Hebi-hime." He sat up and yawned. "Time to go already? It fells like I just got to sleep." He opened his eyes to see the sun barely peeking over the sea. 'It's because it's true.' "Damn it, you could have let me sleep a little longer, it's not like Tazuna's up yet."

"Why do you think that?"

"He's an old guy, they like sleeping in as much, if not more, than kids do."

"I've seen the Hokage up at four in the morning."

"Were you up all night drinking?"

"Maybe, why?"

"If you were totally hammered, you could have seen anybody and thought it was the Hokage." He chuckled when she blush slightly. "Well it doesn't look like I'll be getting back to sleep now, so why did you wake me up?"

"I want to know if Kakashi's right, are you hiding something."

"You know I am."

"I meant from me."

"There are some things, one's not my place to say, one's my second purpose in life, one's what that dream was about that caused the chakra surge, and another that could jeopardize the well being of someone I care deeply for."

"Does any of it have to do with this mission?"

"Obviously, the dream one does since it happened during this mission, but otherwise it's not directly related. The last one however is."

"I need to know then."

"If I do tell you, it can't go farther then you. If someone else finds out, it will reach him and then it's over."

"You're not giving me a choice are you?"

"No I'm not. Either it ends with you or it dies with me."

"Fine, but we need somewhere we can talk."

"Not the forest or the bridge, and certainly not here. I know of a building in the village it's abandoned, but as long as we, and by we I mean you, don't yell, no one should notice."

"Fine, lead the way."

"Sorry, but I told you, I don't trust Kakashi." Naruto put his hand on her shoulder and they were gone in the flames. They appeared in a dust-covered room. Naruto nearly fell over for the amount of chakra it took to get them both there.

"Idiot, I could have told you that was going to happen."

"I wasn't going to be followed. Kakashi was standing below us on the wall." Naruto fell backwards into a sitting position.

"Are you alright kid, I've never seen you this tired."

"Lack of sleep and four hundred clones will do that."

"What were you doing this time?"

"Looking for Gato. It was my only chance."

"To do what?"

"To avoid fighting her."

"Her? Who do you… no, you can't mean…" The look on his face was more than enough. "You little bastard, you knew who the hunter-nin was and you didn't tell us? You better have a good damn reason."

"Just don't interrupt. Yes I knew who she was, her name is Haku. She was the girl who was looking for herbs. I knew it was her when we met in the woods and knew Zabuza was alive then. The reason I didn't tell you, is because I had her try and convince Zabuza not to finish the job and just leave. You would have thought he was dead, and as long as we killed Gato everyone else would too. He could have lived a peaceful life, but he refused. That was the day I told you he was alive."

"Haku left me a note telling me because she was ordered by him to kill me if she saw me. I burned the note and said I saw her watching me to explain how I knew he was alive and the needle. She really is as strong as I said, and neither of us want to fight the other. She is protective of Zabuza, and knows I won't let him hurt any of you."

"And you didn't want them to hear this because…"

"I love her. If Zabuza finds out, he'll kill her. She accepts me even though she knows about dad being sealed in me."

"But does she know he's your father?"

Naruto's eyes dropped. "No."

"Look kid, I'm all for you getting a girlfriend, but she's our enemy."

"You think I don't know that? Trust me I do, that was the first thing that I thought of when I realized how I felt, but she is probably the only one I'll ever find that doesn't care I'm a vessel to a demon. Even if he wasn't my father, any children I might have would probably have demonic chakra anyway."

"What about when we go home, do you think they'll welcome her with open arms?"

"She isn't a missing-nin like Zabuza, she was never part of a village. Zabuza found her and trained her. And the villagers can kiss my ass, because after the chunin exams, I won't be in the village very often and I'm sure he won't mind her coming with us."

"Who? What are you going to be doing?"

"Fulfilling my second purpose in life and maybe even the first if I find him. As for who, it's not my place to say, he will reveal himself when he's ready to."

"And the dream?"

"Orochimaru brutally murdered everyone I hold dear one by one, first the old man, my friend, you, and then Haku. I wasn't able to do anything to stop him. I was powerless, but my body didn't seem to agree."

"Kakashi wouldn't have cared about that."

"Maybe not, but it would have brought up unwanted questions that he hasn't earned the right for answers to."

"You are a real piece of work kid."

"You think? My father is the nine-tailed fox that attacked the village where I live, who's sealed in my navel. My life at home is shit except for when I'm with you, the old man, or by myself. I have a power that could kill me if I'm not careful and to top it all off, every night I'm in that village, I faced with the possibility of death while I sleep. I don't know anyone who wouldn't be fuck up after a day in my life. Now if we're done, we should head back. Zabuza won't wait at the bridge all day, he'll head for the house before long."

"Did she tell you this too?"

"Last night, she was the one my fox picked up. I went and spoke with her after you went back inside and then went looking for Gato." He stood up slowly. "I can get back to the house, but that's it, my chakra is all but gone."

"It's your own damn fault, I told you to sleep last night."

"I was, until you woke me up. I'm just lucky that I have some solider pills in my bag."

"You know I can't let you come with us now, you'll let your emotion cloud your judgment."

"Not if all I do is protect Tazuna, as long as I don't fight I'm can't compromise the mission." They both used Shunshin to appear in Tazuna's house, Naruto fell to the floor.

Tsunami came in to find out what happened. "Oh, it you two, your friends just left for the bridge." She left right after.

"See what you did brat, they just walked to their slaughter because you hid this shit from us."

"It's not my fault Kakashi's a dumb ass." He tried to get up, only to be pushed back down.

"You're staying here."

She stepped back and disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Like hell I am." Using a small amount of chakra, he called to his foxes, not surprisingly, the white one showed up. "I need you to get my bag from my room, you remember which one?" It nodded. "Good, please hurry." It took off and the next thing he heard was something falling down the stairs. He shook his head as the fox came back dragging the bag.

He quickly rummaged through it until he found the right one. He released the seal containing the solider pills and took four before sealing it again. He grimaced at the taste, but the effects were immediate. The power flowed through him again, but in his weakened state, he had failed to sense that every one of the foxes' chakra levels were raised.

He rushed to the kitchen were two sword carrying idiots were threatening Tsunami and Inari. "We only need one hostage, which one should we kill?"

"I say the boy. His mother would be a better bargaining chip."

"Those leaf ninja won't be expecting this, they'll kill Zabuza for us and we use the hostage to keep them in line." There was the sound of splattering and the man turned to see his partner's head was gone and the body fell to the ground.

"You want to run that by me again." Naruto aimed his killing intent towards the man who was now too afraid to move. "I'm sorry about the mess Tsunami, I'll take care of it." He created two clones who started the clean up.

'**Kit, there's demonic chakra coming from the bridge. I'm pretty sure it's Isonade.'**

'I can't let them kill the container!' "Please excuse me." Both Naruto and the other man burst into flames.

--------------------------

Naruto appeared on the bridge just as a dome of ice planes surround Sasuke. "Isn't someone going to help him?" He dropped the man next to Anko and Tazuna. They turned at his voice.

"You. Who do you think you are suggesting that I run?"

"I was trying to save lives, and give you a chance for a new life without fear of being hunted. As it is, Gato's already planning for you demise, that bastard went to take a hostage from Tazuna's house to keep _us_ in line after we kill you."

"Why should I believe you?"

"You could wait till he wakes up, but I know you won't, so it doesn't matter what I say. Anko, could you keep an eye on this guy? I'm gonna go get Sasuke out of there, he doesn't stand a chance against her."

"So you're actually going to fight her?"

"Not if I can avoid it." He walked towards the dome. He went right up to one of the mirrors. "I know why you so easily accepted the truth about him."

"I was wondering when you would. Does it change anything?"

"No, but I'm still not the same as you. Mine is my actual father, he fell for my human mother. Can you love a person who is neither demon or human?"

"You have the best qualities of both."

"Thank you. I would prefer not to have to fight you, please stop this Haku."

"You know why I can't."

"Yes, but it doesn't change the fact that you are your own person and should make your own decisions."

"It was my decision to follow Zabuza and help him."

"Please allow me to switch place with Sasuke then, he wouldn't even be a good warm up for you."

"Very well, but if I win against you, it won't matter."

"Thank you." Haku moved two sections to allow him in and Naruto grabbed Sasuke and took him over to Anko and Tazuna. "He'll need some medical attention, but he should be fine." He set him down and went back towards the mirrors.

"Where are you going?"

"To make good on my deal." The planes closed behind him and he stopped in the center.

"That kid's a fool, no one can defeat Haku."

"He beat you."

"He got lucky with that flash attack, but that won't help him in a dome of mirrors. Nobody has ever escaped from that jutsu."

"He isn't nobody."

Naruto stood facing the mirror Haku is in. "Please, if I'm going to die, I would like to see your face while I do." 

"Very well." She pulled off the mask and it hit the ground just outside the dome. "I want you to know it cause me great pain to fight you."

"It does for me as well. But seeing as how neither of us is willing to back down, we don't have much choice. This is pointless though, the ones we're trying to protect are out there fight each other anyway."

"Zabuza can defend himself against two jonin."

"I'm sure he can. Kakashi may be an asshole, but I will say he's strong and because of the Sharingan, he has the biggest arsenal of jutsu in Konoha, and Anko scares the hell out of me. I have no doubt that he can defend himself, but he'll have a hard time defeating them. But enough talking, I'm ready when you are." He just stood still watching as Haku appeared in every mirror. Instead of try to get out of the dome, he sat down cross-legged and stared into Haku's eyes.

"Are you going to let yourself be killed? Have you resigned to your death?" He gave no answer, but just continued to sit there. "Very well, I shall try to make it as painless as possible." All the images pulled out needles and readied to throw them. He closed his eyes and placed his hand together as if he were holding something, while his elbows rested on his legs. "I'm sorry it had to come to this." She let loose the needles, all heading straight for his chest, but they never made it. They clatter to the ground three feet from him. "What happened?"

"I have no intention to fight you Haku. As long as I have chakra, the field I put up will stop attacks."

"Then there is a way to get through, unless there are holes for air to get through, you'll suffocate."

"You're right, but I can make the holes wherever and whenever I want, and can close them just as quickly." Haku stepped out of the mirror and walked towards him. "Are you giving up?"

"No, but why waste my chakra keeping these mirrors up." The mirrors melted away, the water from the ones overhead fell on to Naruto's chakra dome. "This is impressive, I doubt anyone else could make this kind of defense. The control alone would have to be immense and the amount of chakra use it for long is more than most jonin could muster."

Naruto slowly stood up and walked towards her. "Haku, we don't have to continue this, together we could stop both sides from fighting. None of them can stand against us." He stood right in front of her, separated by only a few inches. He knew that if she wanted to, she could easily kill him, but he didn't care. He lifted her chin and pressed his lips to hers.

She and the ones watching this were stunned, well most were, Zabuza was pissed. She pulled away from the kiss, breathless and smiling. Kakashi took this moment of carelessness and started doing hand signs. "Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu." The ground cracked and six dogs, all wear blue kimonos, sprung out and grabbed on to Zabuza. He struggled to get free as Kakashi start more hand signs. He grabbed his right wrist as lightning crackled to life in his right hand.

Haku watched in horror as Kakashi moved towards Zabuza, she took off towards them, but Naruto got there first. He stopped Kakashi's attack with a Rasengan, and Kakashi's eyes widened. The two of them were engulfed in a dome of light. From outside, the dome turned black before shrinking. But inside, Naruto held Kakashi to a stalemate, never giving an inch. The dome started closing in on them and when it disappeared, Naruto punched Kakashi in the face, sending him to the ground.

"Where did you learn that jutsu?!"

"From a scroll the Hokage let me borrow." Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "If you don't believe me, you can ask him yourself when we get back."

"Why would you help me, we're enemies."

"There's no reason to kill you, that bastard over there is proof enough that I was telling the truth." He point towards the end of the bridge where Gato and a small army of men stood, brandishing several kinds of weapons.

"It seems these leaf ninja are just as incompetent as you are. You were even spared by a genin, some demon you are. I pay double to whoever brings me his head!" The thugs all smiled and Naruto quickly looked at the ninja around him. Kakashi's chakra was almost all gone from extended use of the Sharingan, Sasuke was still unconscious, Anko was alright, but if she went to fight, that would leave Tazuna basically defenseless. Haku was only slightly better off than Kakashi from her mirrors. Only Zabuza was at full strength, and Naruto hadn't even used that much to create the chakra dome. He felt pressure building in his stomach.

'**Kit, it's the transformation, it's started.'**

He removed Gesshoku, sheath and all, and threw it over to where Sasuke lay. He then stabbed Shin'en into the ground. "Zabuza, the others are in no condition to fight this many, only you and I have the strength at the moment."

"So you want to team up with me?"

"Yes, use Shin'en along with your sword. I won't need it."

"Alright, but do you really think you can use kunai and shuriken to win?"

"No I don't." The genjutsu dropped, but the only ones who could really see this was the army of in front of him. **"Zabuza, when it's done, climb on and together we shall lay waste to those bastards.'**

A wave of enormous power exploded from Naruto. Two steams of chakra swirled around him, one white and one black. The circled him in a cone and when they hit at the top, they fused together to form the shape of a fox's head as gray as the concrete beneath them. He fell to his knees and bent forward, his hands keeping the rest of his body from hitting the ground. His power continued to skyrocket, shaking the earth.

His face contorted and mutated into a muzzle, his teeth becoming fangs, his ears lengthened and moved to the top of his head. His hair turned white and spread across his body, his legs twisted so they bent the opposite way, his hands and feet become paws and three tails sprouted, each tipped with black, as were his ears. He started to grow until his head came to the same height he would be if he were standing in human form.

Everyone's eyes widened as they watched him change. He snarled at the men before him. Getting over the shock, Zabuza moved over to him and yanked Shin'en from the ground. He pulled his own sword and climbed up on to Naruto's back, a zanbato in each hand.


	13. Chapter 13

It was truly a sight to behold, the infamous Demon of the Hidden Mist, a large cleaver in each hand, on top of a true demon, well half demon, but still. Gato and his men were shaking at the sight of the two of them coming closer. Naruto barreled into the heart of them as Zabuza cut them down as they passed. Zabuza jumped off Naruto's back and swung the swords with such force, that they sliced through the people in range like a hot knife does butter. Naruto ripped them to shreds with his teeth and claws, making the fur on his paws and around his mouth red with the blood of those unfortunate enough to face him.

While Zabuza was able to stave off their attacks, Naruto wasn't so lucky and had a deep gash on his side, as well as several smaller injuries here and there, his blood mixing with that of the fallen. "You see, it bleeds, and if it bleeds, it can be killed! Four times to the whoever kills it!" The men in his command charge straight for Naruto, the feeling of death forgotten in their greed. He opened his mouth and formed a Rasengan, using more chakra, he shot it off towards the thugs, and it takes out fifteen in the resulting explosion.

In a matter of twenty minutes, the small army was all but wiped out. Zabuza took out the last of them with a quick spinning motion while both blades were stretched outward. Naruto changed back as he walked towards Gato. The genjutsu didn't go back up, and his hair was now white with black tips, and every wound he received as the fox was still there. "Please don't kill me, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement."

"I want one thing, and one thing only from you." He swiftly pulled the needle from his pocket and shoved it through Gato's throat. He collapsed gasping for breath as Naruto made his way over to where the others stood. "Mission's over." He fell forward and was caught by Haku. Red energy poured out of his wounds and started to pull him back together, closing the wounds before her eyes.

Anko and Kakashi moved over to them. "I told you he was hiding something, not only was he in contact with our enemies, but the fox has more influence on him than anyone could imagine."

"Yes he was in contact with them, but he did it for the sake of the mission. And that transformation was a bloodline trait from his father."

"How do you know?"

"Because I saw someone from his father's clan transform in to a fox more than twice that size. Besides, Kyuubi was reddish-orange, not black and white, and had nine tails instead of three."

Getting over the shock of what he had seen, Tazuna slowly walked over as well. "Is he alright?"

"He'll be fine, but he'll probably need to rest awhile to get his strength back."

Haku gasped and everyone looked down to find Naruto's eyes open and smiling. "Zabuza, the offer still stands. We could tell everyone your dead and no one would be the wiser. You still have a chance to start over."

"Thanks, but killing is the only thing I'm good at."

"Then you could come to Konoha, we're still trying to recover after twelve years and could use the help. I'm sure the old man won't mind, and we're on shitty terms with Kiri anyway, couldn't get much worse."

"Naruto, they can't…"

"Shut up Kakashi, it's not up to you. The old man is the only one who has the right to turn them away."

"You little shit, you will give me the proper respect!"

Haku was making one-handed seals, but Naruto got to his feet. "Trust is given, respect is earned, and you have neither from me." Kakashi grabbed him by the collar, but let go soon after. He looked down to see Naruto's black arm in his chest. "I told you that I won't go easy on you because of where we live." He pulled it out and walked over to Sasuke, who was just coming to.

"What happened?"

"Gato and his men showed up and Zabuza and I killed them."

"Zabuza? Why would he kill the man he was working for?"

"Gato planned on betraying him, so their contract was void. We don't have to fight them and their coming back with us."

"But they fought against us!"

"They were doing their job, just like us. Besides, if Haku had wanted to, you would be dead. You also gained something from it didn't you?"

Sasuke smirked. "Damn right I did. The Sharingan has awoken."

"See, you bloodline is working, and only Gato and his thugs had to die."

"What happened to you?"

"Apparently, I have a bloodline too. It activated and caused some small changes."

"What does it do?"

"I show you later, after we rest up a bit, we're both almost completely drained." He helped Sasuke up and supported him while they walked. The group of seven started for Tazuna's house, Zabuza still carrying Shin'en, Haku with Gesshoku, Anko supporting Kakashi** (Dumb ass forgot to cover the Sharingan)**, Tazuna and the two boys at the back. The little white fox came running up to them and walked next the Naruto yipping. "Yeah, I know. Tell the others that they're with me and that they can go. I'll summon you all again when we get back for your treat." It yipped happily and ran off.

"So you have to give them treats to listen to you?"

"No, but these are just kits, so I give them some now and then. Besides, they did a good job. Hey, did Kakashi ever tell you who passed the second exam?"

"Second exam?"

"I'll take that as a no. The first was to weed out the hopeless, the second determined who stayed genin and who went back to class. Your fangirl Ino and her team passed, so did Hinata's team. Then there are the Bun'ya twins, Tama, and Kagirinai. The chunin exams are coming up in a few months, and we might be teamed up with one of them if anyone is nominated."

"How do you know all this before anyone else?"

"I'm close with the Hokage. I also have a friend in Suna who's the Kazekage's son." 'Speaking of which, I should tell him I found Haku.'

'**That can wait, you need to rest first, the transformation took a lot out of you.'**

'Is it always going to be so taxing?'

'**No, it will get easier as you use it more.'**

"Naruto, you alright?"

"Uh, oh yeah. Sorry, I must be more tried than I thought. Did you say something?"

"Yeah, how did I get out of the dome?"

"I carried you."

"Then how did you get out?"

"She let me in and out with you on the condition that I take your place."

"She? Haku's a girl?"

Naruto chuckled. "Yep, in fact the same girl you saw me with on our first day here." When they reached the house, Naruto and Sasuke went straight upstairs. When Sasuke went to lie down, Naruto went back towards the door.

"Didn't you say you were tired?"

"Yeah, but my bag's downstairs, and I have something of value to me in there." He leaves and Sasuke quickly falls asleep. He went straight to his bag and rummaged through it. He sighed in relief as he looked in the storage scroll. "Good, it's still here."

"What is?" The voice made him jump and drop the scroll back into the bag. He placed a hand on his chest and turned.

"God damn it Anko, you nearly gave me a heart attack." She just shrugged with a smile.

"Finally got to sneak up on you for a change. So, what is it that you were worried about being gone?"

"I've been working on a few new jutsu and trying to mix the parts of Meian without it blowing up. I wrote it all down on a single scroll, but one of the jutsu is just as volatile as the mixing and could be pretty bad if someone were to attempt it."

"Is that really all you were worried about?"

He smiled from ear to ear. "Yeah, why, don't you trust me?"

"After what you pulled on this mission, I starting to have some doubts."

"Look for yourself." He turned back to his bag and pulled out a scroll. He tossed it to her. "Remember what I said though, one of these could kill you if you tried it." She unrolled it and after another look toward Naruto, she started reading it.

-Dome of chakra that is solid and acts like a shield against attacks. Air holes made anywhere at anytime and closed as fast. Functions as long as chakra remains and user stays still. Make a hollow sphere of chakra around you and concentrate only on the task. Uses large amounts of chakra during long periods and requires moderate chakra control.

_-Blade of chakra that becomes longer with more chakra. Front at wrist and back at elbow. With enough control, can shape the blade. Focus chakra out of forearm and sharpen edge by compressing. Can be made to be double-edged. Need moderate control to use, but expert control to shape. Could be possible to form from fingertips, attempt later._

_-Using both hands, mix same amount together and keep it even. Turns it gray. MUST KEEP EVEN!_

She looked up at him. "Have you done any of these?"

"Two, my clones work on the third one for obvious reasons, and the other ones I'm working on."

"And which did you think could kill me?"

"The last one."

"I can't use Meian remember."

"Then you didn't see them all." She looked back at the scroll and unrolled it further.

_-Write seal in blood of other person, and add chakra. Seal allows user to travel great distances in seconds. By placing users blood on seal and add chakra, travels to person whose blood made seal. More chakra may be needed for longer distances. CAUTION: Causes great strain on body, nearly equal to opening the first four gates. To cancel seal, place more blood used to make over it and release like a genjutsu._

She stared at him wide-eyed. "You didn't, did you?"

"How else do you think I know the effects? I read about the effects of opening the fourth gate, and I hope no one is crazy enough to go that far or further. The only reason I'm okay is because of my increased healing factor. I don't plan to use it unless I need to, and I'm trying to come up with a way to return to wherever I was before using it."

"Who do you plan on using this with?"

"The old man, Haku, my friend, you, and anyone else that becomes precious to me. If one of them is in danger, I can be there in an instant to help."

"And how will you know if they're in danger?"

"A different set seals, after it's made, you put even a small amount of chakra into it and the partner seal will alert the wearer, but I'm not sure how as I haven't been able to test it. I would assume that if I were to get rid of the first seal the second would go as well, but I would have to cancel the seal's counterpart too."

"How did you test the first one?"

"A rabbit, it works even with a corpse. This is the second that I took inspiration from Yondaime's techniques, but it isn't really an offensive jutsu like Hiraishin."

"What's the other one?"

"The shield, Rasengan requires a shell of chakra to keep the spinning chakra from taking off the user's arm, or worse."

"Do these seals have a specific design?"

"No, they can look like anything, you just have to mark it how you want. It could be anything and would look like a tattoo so it would be hard to tell which it is. It could even be placed on a scroll and used that way."

"I'm not sure whether to be proud or scared at your progress into seals and jutsu."

He shrugged. "Maybe both, if one of them goes wrong, it could kill me, but they can be a great help too." She handed the scroll back and he placed it back in the bag before picking it up. Instead of going back to the room, he went outside and climbed the wall up to the roof. 'All that's left is to finish the bridge and then it's back to the village.' Unable to fight off exhaustion anymore, he fell asleep right where he had the night before.

--------------------------

When Naruto woke the next morning, he found Haku laying beside him on his left side and his swords within reach on his right. As he lay there, he saw that the sun was just peeking over the horizon. 'I doubt that Gaara's up yet, not that I can blame him, mornings are so dull.'

'**You should see if Haku would allow you to mark her seal so you can have the same bond with her as you do him. It would also eliminate the purpose of the second seal you told Anko about, at least for them.'**

'I'll have to talk to Gaara about the seal later too, and if he agrees I'll have to hope he's put into the exam.'

'**Kit, you know I don't mind talking to you, but it gets rather annoying when you stat the obvious.'**

'I know, but I was more or less thinking out loud.'

'**Kit, there's something I need to tell you about your tails since you've been obtaining them so quickly. It would probably be better if you came in here.'**

Naruto quickly found himself in front of the seal. "What is it dad?"

"**You know about the eighth gate correct?"** Naruto nodded. **"Well the gates are the same as our tails."**

"Then how can you have nine tails, the eight is the death gate."

"**The reason that it is known as that is because that is what results when a human tries. The power they get from it is too much for they bodies to take, most humans can't handle more than five or six. Demons' and half-demons' bodies are built stronger than humans and can handle the power easier."**

"That still doesn't explain why you have nine if there are only eight gates."

"**In truth there are ten, but for the reason I said, humans only know of eight and that's all they believe there are. The reason there are called the gates is because humans no longer have the tails they needed to stand up right, which is why you don't either. Now for the reason I called you here, each time you gain a tail, you get more power. But the ninth tail you get something more, you gain immortality. You will basically be a full demon, but it comes at a price. Demons and even half-demons have naturally long lives, demons for thousands and half-demons for hundreds of years, but demon vessels, like Haku and Gaara, still have a human's lifespan. Unless you are killed, you will out live them all and if you gain the ninth tail, you'll out live most demons. Once you turn eighteen, your aging will slow down until you die or gain the ninth tail in which case it will cease all together."**

"Why are you telling me this?"

"**Because of Haku. I told you so I can tell you to cherish every second you're with her, so that even when she's gone, she will not have left you."**

"I promise. You said there were ten, has any demon ever gotten that one?"

"**Only one, the leader of the Kitsune clan before me and my best friend. He is the only other besides you and my father to survive with Meian, in fact you looked just like him when you transformed."**

"What happened to him?"

Kyuubi smiled. **"He became a Kami and renamed Inari, but before that he was called Byakko. When he was found to have Meian, my father was the clan head and took him as his student, as well as my sister and I. He taught us all the basics about the five elements, but he spent most of his time with Byakko teaching him the details of Meian. At first I was furious that my father favored him over us, mostly me, and I pushed myself harder and harder to prove to him I was better. We both gained our first four tails quickly, only slightly faster than you, and almost at the same time. It was at this point I realized that it no longer mattered to me if my father thought I was better or not, I enjoyed our rivalry because when I pushed, he pushed back forcing me to become stronger or be left behind."**

"**Among the clan we were the most likely to become the clan head due to our rapid growth, but after the fourth it took nearly a century to get the fifth. Byakko and Aori became mates, much to my father's pleasure, after we each gained our seventh, Aori included. Two centuries later he became the clan head after getting his eighth, a year before I got mine. Then we both got our ninth within a week of each other nearly four centuries after that, he was the first Kyuubi in fourteen millennia. I found out that over the centuries that he taught my father a few uses for Meian, but not which ones and I couldn't stop laughing. Then came the day he got his final tail, it gave him an unending supply of yokai, the Kami brought him into their ranks, and I lost my reason to become stronger."**

"I thought you had unlimited yokai?"

Kyuubi laughed. **"No, I have my limits as well, but I haven't been forced to them since before he became Inari, which was three or four millennia ago. Now, you should get back out there, she waking." **Naruto faded from the seal, when he was outside he looked over and sure enough Haku was stirring.

Her eyes fluttered open and landed on him. "Morning, did you sleep well Haku?"

"Never better. You always up this early?"

"Nah, the transformation just took a lot out of me and I fell asleep early." His eyes filled with sadness. "Haku, I have something I have to tell you. I just found out that I might…"

"Out live me by a few centuries, I know." He looked at her shocked. "Isonade told me everything, even about the tails." She smiled at him. "It doesn't bother me because I'll get to spend my life with you."

He smiled and kissed her gently on the lips. "I love you Haku."

"I've noticed. So, what do you plan to do today?"

"Not really sure about today, but tonight I was hoping a beautiful young lady would join me for a stroll in the woods." A playful smile adorned his face. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone like that would you?"

Her smile widened. "Well, there is this one girl, she's caring, beautiful, and gentle unless her precious people are in danger, but she has an overprotective father figure and she's already in love with strong and handsome young man."

"Sounds like a lucky guy." He sighed, but had a mischievous glint in his eyes and he shrugged. "Oh well, would you like to come instead?" Her smile was replaced with a scowl as he saw her reach for her senbon needles. He held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "I was kidding, I wouldn't want anyone other than you by my side for the rest of my life."

Settling to only send him a slight glare, she replied. "You know that could be a very long time."

"Yes I do, but even if I live forever, I would never be able to stop loving you, and I doubt anyone could ever take your place." He pulled the blushing Haku into a deep kiss that she happily returned.


	14. AN: Poll

Alright, I know I haven't been updating as much as I should, but I have started working on the next chapter. However I've run into a bit of a problem and would like to hear what you all have to say about it. Should I make this a slight crossover with Inuyasha? Okay a bit more than slight, Naruto would run into several characters, but not get too heavily involved in their storyline. So I'm starting a poll, first to seventy-five wins, so the more of you that vote the sooner the chapter will come out. Thanks.


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